AKIPRESS.COM - About 3,500 migrants spent the night camped out in freezing cold at the Berkasovo-Bapska border crossing between Serbia and Croatia after the Croatian government closed the gates to limit the number of people entering the country.

At first light on Thursday, groups of refugees bypassed the official border crossing and walked through orchards into Croatia, reports Reuters.

"Babies crying, women crying, we were burning big fires, but it was very cold, no one gave us food, only some bread," said a man named Sayed, who had made it to the border from the Syrian capital of Damascus.

The crossing is one of the new focal points of Europe's biggest refugee and migrant crisis since World War II, which has seen hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa this year to try to reach Europe's rich countries.

Hungary sealed its border with Croatia last week, blocking entry with a metal fence and razor wire. Croatia began directing migrants west to Slovenia, which has tried to stem the flow as migrants sought new routes and human bottlenecks built up through the Balkans.

Most want to continue their journey on to Austria and Germany, the preferred destination for most. Both Slovenia and Hungary are part of Europe's passport-free Schengen Area while Croatia is not.

With many now trapped in deteriorating conditions in the Balkans, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called an extraordinary meeting of several European leaders to take place on Sunday.

The commission said in a statement on Wednesday that Juncker had invited the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

"In view of the unfolding emergency in the countries along the Western Balkans migratory route, there is a need for much greater cooperation, more extensive consultation and immediate operational action," the commission said.