At least 16 people have died after a bus taking Hungarian students home from a school ski trip to France slammed into a highway barrier in northern Italy and burst into flames.

Dozens of refugees are feared dead after two boat tragedies left rescuers scouring the seas for those who had set out on risky crossings after fleeing war and poverty in their homelands.

Barred at Hungary, refugees take longer route through Croatia.

Hungary has begun building a fence on the country’s southern border with Serbia, meant to stem the unprecedented flow of migrants, the government said yesterday.

The Hungarian government is considering building a four-metre-high (13ft-high) fence along the border with Serbia to stop the flow of migrants reaching the country, said the foreign minister.