Hungary to build stronger anti-migrant fence, Orban says

A migrant child eats at a makeshift camp for migrants in Horgos, Serbia, meters away from Serbia's border with Hungary, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. Officials say Hungary's police could join the Serbian troops patrolling the Balkan country's border with Macedonia or Bulgaria to help curb the influx of migrants trying to reach the European Union. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) (The Associated Press)

Children carry water at a makeshift camp for migrants in Horgos, Serbia, meters away from the Serbia's border with Hungary, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. Officials say Hungary's police could join the Serbian troops patrolling the Balkan country's border with Macedonia or Bulgaria to help curb the influx of migrants trying to reach the European Union. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) (The Associated Press)

Children play at a makeshift camp for migrants in Horgos, Serbia, meters away from Serbia's border with Hungary, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. Officials say Hungary's police could join the Serbian troops patrolling the Balkan country's border with Macedonia or Bulgaria to help curb the influx of migrants trying to reach the European Union. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) (The Associated Press)

Hungary's prime minister says the country will build a new, "massive" fence on its southern borders to defend against a possible surge in the number of migrants.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who earlier said migrants were "poison," said Friday on state radio that there may soon be a "greater need for security" and the fortified barrier would be able to stop "several hundreds of thousands of people," if needed. He did not say when construction could start.

Orban said the surge could take place if, for example, Turkey allows the millions of refugees living there to leave for Western Europe.

Hungary built fences protected with razor wire on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia last year, when nearly 400,000 people passed through the country on their way west.