VIENNA – Austrian mountain rescuers have saved a Syrian teen found injured and suffering from severe hypothermia, they said on March 5, as new smuggling routes are being used to avoid stepped-up border controls in central Europe.

Central European countries increased border controls in 2023 as the numbers of migrants and asylum seekers crossing into the European Union have risen. This has led to new smuggling routes.

Rescuers on March 3 airlifted the 14-year-old found “severely hypothermic and barely reactive” at an altitude of 1,200m in “partly snowy, steep, wet and densely wooded terrain”.

A hiker had heard calls for help from the boy – who complained of “severe pain” – and called the rescue services, they said in a statement.

The authorities are still investigating how the boy, described as being illegally in the country, ended up on the mountains near the Slovenian border.

Earlier this winter, a refugee family was rescued in the same area in the southern province of Carinthia after getting lost in the mountains on a suspected new smuggling route, according to police, cited by the Krone tabloid.

Asylum applications in the EU surged to more than one million in 2023, a seven-year high, with Syrians, followed by Afghans, remaining the top groups seeking protection, according to the bloc’s asylum agency.

Germany received the biggest number of asylum applications in 2023 – around 29 per cent of the total. AFP