Refugees on buses in Hungary; Austria, Germany to take them

A mother and her child sit in a bus, which is supposed to leave to Austria and Germany, at the Keleti trainstation in Budapest, Hungary, September 4, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

BICSKE, Hungary - After misery, delivery. Hundreds of migrants, exhausted after breaking away from police and marching for hours toward Western Europe, boarded buses provided by Hungary's government as Austria in the early-morning hours said it and Germany would let them in.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann announced the decision early Saturday after speaking with Angela Merkel, his German counterpart - not long after Hungary's surprise nighttime move to provide buses for the weary travelers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

With people streaming in long lines along highways from a Budapest train station and near a migrant reception center in this northern town, the buses would be used because "transportation safety can't be put at risk," said Janos Lazar, chief of staff to the prime minister.

Lazar blamed Germany's "contradictory communications" and the European Union for the crisis.