Police are monitoring the movement of the group and helping them, he added.

A local MTI correspondent said there were currently no migrants in Körmend, and a larger group has already reached Pinkamindszent, where they were given food by charity organisations.

The interior ministry opened the new registration point for illegal migrants at the site of the police secondary school in Körmend on Thursday.

Bebes said he had been informed by the ministry of its plans to set up a temporary reception point with a capacity to accommodate up to 600 people. Meanwhile, a 4km tailback developed on the M1 motorway at the border crossing to Austria as a result of the exodus of migrants on Friday morning, police said on its website.

Police advised drivers to take a detour to Slovakia. Austria closed the border crossing of Nickelsdorf (Miklóshalma) in both directions early in the morning, citing safety reasons.

The crossing was later opened for traffic in the direction of Hungary but it is still closed to traffic going from Hungary to Austria. Police apprehended 3,262 migrants who illegally crossed the border in southern Hungary on Thursday.

Most of those caught around the border station of Röszke declared themselves Syrian, Afghan and Pakistani.

Around the country on the same day, 3,601 migrants were caught by police and 19 suspected people smugglers were detained, the national police headquarters said.

Austrian civilians transported 66 migrants in 20 cars from Győr, in western Hungary, to Vienna under the arrangements of a civilian initiative, the Austrian news agency reported, citing information from the initiative’s organisers.

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MTI photo: Varga György