Fourteen migrants, described as hailing from the Middle East, were killed shortly before midnight near Skopje when they were hit by an oncoming train.

The victims were part of a team of dozens of irregular migrants that had reportedly entered from the Greek border and were walking along the tracks, probably headed for the border with Serbia, and then on to western Europe.

The train engineer stated that when he noticed people on the line, he started braking and honking the train horn, which saved quite a few of them as they hopped off the line. However, due to the short distance, and under the cover of darkness, some of them were not able to move off in time, and were run over.