BUDAPEST, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Hungary decided to extend the "state of crisis" which it first declared in 2016 in connection with the mass migration, in the interest of protecting the country's security and borders, the government said Friday in a statement.
"Illegal border crossing attempts have continued this year, with 7,000 attempts made since Jan. 1," it said.
"The situation in Serbia has now become critical, with several thousand illegal migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina and some 30,000 migrants in Greece," the statement added.
Without Hungary's border control activities and fence along parts of its southern border, the country would be the main transit route of illegal migration, similarly to the 2015 migrant crisis, according to the statement.
It said the "state of crisis" measure enabled law enforcement organizations to take "the most effective measures" against illegal entrants in the border zone and inside the country. The government ordered the "state of crisis" in March 2016 and has upheld the measure ever since.
