The European Union urged Bosnia on Wednesday to ensure that thousands of migrants and refugees in the Balkan country were adequately housed as temperatures fall below freezing with the onset of winter. "The current weather conditions seriously put at risk the lives of over 2,000 persons sleeping outside in dire conditions and of the 1,300 persons located at the temporary Lipa facility, which is unsuitable for winter," the EU's delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina said in a statement. "The humanitarian crisis is becoming a reality because of the lack of action of the authorities... We urge the authorities to act with the utmost urgency to save lives", the statement said. And the situation with the coronavirus pandemic was making matters worse, it added. A refugee camp in northwestern city of Bihac was shut down in September by the local authorities in response to growing pressure from local residents in a move the EU delegation described as "unlawful". Brussels had provided "considerable financial and technical support" to the local authorities to "better manage" the situation, the delegation said. Tens of thousands migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa have arrived in Bosnia since 2018, seeking a better life in Europe. Earlier this month, Bosnia's Ministry of Security said that more than 6,600 migrants were housed in a number of reception centres across the country. rus/mbs/spm