‘Go back to Minsk’

Poland has sent tens of thousands of text messages to foreign mobile phones along the country's border with Belarus in a bid to target migrants and dissuade them from crossing.

"The Polish border is sealed. BLR (Belarusian) authorities told you lies. Go back to Minsk!," read the English-language messages.

The interior ministry said that on Tuesday alone it had sent nearly 31,000 messages to phones along the border.

The messages also contained a hyperlink to a site in English, French, Arabic, Russian and Polish warning migrants that an illegal border crossing "may result in imprisonment".

"Worsening weather conditions may be dangerous to life and health. Any attempt at hiding and sleeping rough (outside, in the open) may end tragically," the site said, following the death of six migrants along the EU border with Belarus.

Poland has deployed thousands of troops to the border in the past few weeks, built a barbed wire fence and imposed a state of emergency banning journalists and non-governmental organisations from the entire 400-kilometre (249-mile) border.

Non-governmental groups have warned of a humanitarian crisis for migrants crossing the border as temperatures begin to dip and have asked for access to provide medical assistance.

The government said this week that 8,200 migrants had been prevented from crossing into Poland since the beginning of August and 1,200 had managed to cross and were in detention.

Polish border guards on Wednesday said they had intercepted 473 attempted crossings on Tuesday -- a single-day record.

The European Union accuses Belarus of deliberately orchestrating the influx of migrants in retaliation against EU sanctions over the Moscow-backed regime's crackdown on dissent.