In Pictures

Gallery|Humanitarian Crises

A desperate journey to a fate unknown

Photographer Lucy Kafanov travels with exhausted refugees as they cross four borders en route to northern Europe.

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Macedonian soldiers erect a fence near the border with Greece. Authorities have been overwhelmed by the heavy influx of refugees, mainly from Syria, transiting to European countries for asylum. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
By Lucy Kafanov
Published On 11 Sep 2015

Idomeni, Greece – Since the start of this year, hundreds of thousands of desperate people – most seeking refuge from bloody conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan – have made a perilous trek via the so-called Balkans route into the heart of Europe.

They travel for thousands of miles by boat, train and on foot in search of a better life and refuge from violence in what has been described as the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

For many, the journey begins in Turkey, where they are forced to pay smugglers thousands of dollars for a spot on an overcrowded rubber dinghy that will transport them across choppy seas to one of Greece’s eastern islands. It is a terrifying and often dangerous journey. More than 2,600 people have died at sea this year.

From Greece, they move through Macedonia and Serbia before entering Hungary and migrating to wealthier countries in northern Europe. The United Nations estimates that 3,000 migrants a day are pouring into the Balkans and heading to other destinations in Europe.

The refugees have no way of knowing what fate awaits them in Europe, but many say staying in their war-torn homelands would likely mean death.

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Women and children wait in sweltering heat to cross from Greece into Macedonia, where authorities have been letting refugees through in groups of about 50 at a time. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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Syrian children enjoy ice cream given to them by a Greek icecream vendor as temperatures climb past 30 degrees on the Greek-Macedonian border. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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An exhausted Syrian girl catches up on sleep after walking nearly 80km from Thessaloniki to the Greek border with Macedonia. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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An Iraqi refugee charges his cellphone using a food vendor’s truck near the Greek-Macedonian border crossing. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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Families cross the border from Greece by walking on railway tracks to a station in the Macedonian town of Gevgelija, where most take trains to the border with Serbia before heading further north toward Hungary. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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Refugees wait in sweltering heat for armed Macedonian border police with riot shields to open the crossing from Greece. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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A man prays in the early hours of the morning before continuing his journey from Greece into Macedonia. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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Migrants and refugees wait to board a train organised by the Macedonian government to transport them across the country to the Serbian border. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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An Iraqi boy travels by train with his family across Macedonia to the Serbian border, in hopes of eventually reaching Germany. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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Refugees ride a train through Macedonia that takes them from the southern border with Greece to the northern border with Serbia. The Macedonian government has organised trains twice daily heading north towards Serbia. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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Refugees peek out of the window as their train pulls into a station in Macedonia near the border with Serbia, from where they will continue their journey on foot. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]
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After a five-hour journey on an overcrowded train, refugees arrive at Tabanovce, at Macedonia’s frontier with Serbia, from where they will continue their journey on foot. [Lucy Kafanov/Al Jazeera]