Officers spotted a “visibly overloaded van” with German number plates in the small city of Novska and tailed it “without using audible or visual signals”, a police statement said.

After noticing the police, the driver accelerated and veered off the road.

The van overturned, crashing into a house.

The driver and a passenger died.

Local media reports said around 25 people were injured, with nine in serious condition.

Police did not provide details about the identities of the migrants, but local media reports said they included citizens of Turkey and several countries in the Middle East.

The incident comes almost a month after another van carrying migrants crashed in eastern Croatia, injuring 14.

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.