Felix Hoske and Andrius Sitas

BIALYSTOK (Poland) -A young Syrian male was found dead in Poland at the border to Belarus. This comes amid rising tensions over a migrant crisis that the European Union claims has been orchestrated and orchestrated by Minsk.

Many thousands of Middle East migrants are hiding in the freezing temperatures at the border between Belarus, EU countries Poland and Lithuania. They are being refused entry by the EU.

At least 8 of them are already dead and more people fear for their safety in the harsh winter.

Tomasz Krapa from Podlaska said to Reuters that a forest worker told police about the finding of the body. The man’s passport was also found.

Krupa explained that it was a Syrian young man around 20 years old. He said it wasn’t possible to ascertain the cause of death from the scene.

International tension is growing over the crisis, with neighbours of Belarus warning the situation could escalate into a military conflict https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/poland-reports-violent-clashes-overnight-migrants-attempt-new-border-breach-2021-11-11 and U.S. President Joe Biden expressing his concern https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/biden-says-us-concerned-about-situation-belarus-2021-11-12.

Belarus claimed that migrants were arriving daily at the border camp, with up to 100 people crossing into Poland.

Mariusz Kaminski (Polish Interior Minister) estimated that around 1,500 people were residing at the border.

In an effort to pressure the bloc on sanctions, the European Union has accused Belarus of instigating this crisis.

Minsk has denied that, while Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of President Alexander Lukashenko said on Saturday that Western countries are ultimately to blame for the crisis.

But, some migrants claim that they were helped by Belarusian troops to cross the border.

The Polish army released footage on Saturday showing about 50 migrants being led across Belarusian border crossings by Belarusian troops.

Polish Border Guard stated that a section had been pulled down by Belarusian troops.

Officials from the Lithuanian border patrol released video footage of 70 migrants that they claimed were brought in vehicles by Belarusian officials to Lithuania’s frontier.

Austria, Lithuania Latvia and Estonia asked for international assistance agencies to organize humanitarian and medical aid in Belarus to help “avoid tragedies” and stop a humanitarian crisis at the Polish border.