A police patrol near the village of Malino close to the Bosnian border noticed a “visibly overloaded van…that they tried to stop”, a police statement said.

Fourteen people were injured including seven children, a police spokesman told media.

The driver of the van with Swiss registration plates, who sustained minor injuries, is in police custody, spokesman Kata Nuic added.

Police did not provide details about the identities of the migrants but the state-run HRT television reported they were Syrians.

The youngest child was two years old.

The migrants were hospitalised with seven of them being seriously injured including four children, doctors said.

The incident comes two weeks after 12 migrants died when their boat capsized as they tried to cross a river between Bosnia and Serbia.

European Union-member Croatia has long been a major transit country for illegal migrants travelling on the so-called Balkan route hoping to enter Europe, with most passing through neighbouring Bosnia.

According to the bloc’s border agency Frontex, nearly 100,000 Europe-bound migrants fleeing war or poverty took the Balkan route last year to enter the EU.