Unsettling Images Show Hungary's Border Emptied Of Refugees

Thousands of men, women and children have streamed through the Serbian border with Hungary on their way to northern Europe in recent weeks. But on Wednesday, a day after Hungary locked down its southern perimeter, the border zone looked eerily empty.

Photographers for Getty Images captured images of the border teeming with fleeing families last Sunday, and on Wednesday snapped pictures of the same locations looking utterly deserted.

Hungary closed gaps in its border fence on Tuesday and began prosecuting hundreds of people suspected of breaking through the barrier. Many refugees and migrants trapped on the Serbian side of the border were met by tear gas and water cannons fired by Hungarian riot police enforcing the border closure.

The clampdown has pushed thousands of people fleeing war and extreme poverty in the Middle East and Africa to seek alternative routes to northern Europe, some of which are feared to be littered with land mines, on their journey to more refugee-friendly nations like Germany and Sweden.