The Polish prosecutor's office said an investigation had been opened into the incident, but that it appeared to have been an "unfortunate accident" caused by the soldier stumbling on the path.

Grupa Granica, a network helping migrants at the border, said on Monday (November 6) that it is providing legal assistance, access to interpreters and psychological support to the injured man in hospital in the town of Hajnówka.

He has not spoken directly to the media, but told the group what had happened when he crossed the border.

He said he had been in the forest with a group of other migrants from Syria, when "an incomprehensible scream rang out behind them, followed immediately by a shot that hit him in the back."

After that, soldiers ran up to him, and after a while they called an ambulance. At the time when he was shot it was still light, so the soldiers would have seen him clearly, he said.

While in hospital, he expressed his wish to apply for international protection, according to Grupa Granica.

The man’s life is reported not to be in danger, but he risks paralysis because of the bullet in his spine.

Body of second Syrian man found

Meanwhile a report in Notes from Poland, an English language news site funded by a Polish NGO, said that a second man, also Syrian, had been found dead nearby, but there was no indication that the two incidents were related.

Polish activist and journalist Piotr Czaban, who reports on the border situation, wrote on the media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that they had been searching for him for a week.

"Our team arrived at the site today. Nature researchers found [his body] just before we did. The police are already here," the message reads.

Since 2021, tens of thousands of migrants have tried to cross from Belarus into Poland. To try to prevent the crossings, in 2022 the Polish government constructed a metal barrier and deployed a large military and police force along the border.

The border wall hasn't stopped migrants from the Middle East, West Africa and elsewhere attempting to get into the EU member state, however. According to the latest report from the Polish border guard, Straz Graniczna, on November 5, 94 people tried to cross from Belarus into Poland, including citizens of Somalia, Turkey and India.

There have been 24,500 attempted crossings so far this year, it said.

The border guards, supported by the army, have faced accusations from human rights groups that they use push-backs in order to send migrants back to Belarus -- a practice which is in breach of international law.

According to NGOs, there have been at least 50 confirmed deaths on the Poland-Belarus border since the start of the border crisis in the northern hemisphere summer of 2021.