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Rocky road: Disabled refugees battle through the Balkans

Aid worker, Pane Ignov helps pull Syrian refugee, Bashar, who lost his leg to diabetes, through the no man's land between Macedonia and Serbia Jodi Hilton/IRIN

    Jodi Hilton’s photojournalism entry has been shortlisted for the AidEx Humanitarian & Development Journalism Award 2016.

    Tabanovce

    Since the beginning of this year, more than 700,000 migrants and refugees have taken boats from Turkey to Greece and made their way to Western Europe using the so-called Balkan route. The journey is exhausting and dangerous, even for the young and able-bodied. For the injured and disabled, the risks and challenges are multiplied.

    Bashar from Homs, Syria, lost his leg to diabetes. He is travelling with his son, his pregnant daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. They have made it as far as the Republic of Macedonia’s border with Serbia where Bashar's wheelchair is of little use for crossing several kilometres of muddy no man's land.

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