Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakhi said on Tuesday that authorities are trying to recover the body of a 5-year-old Syrian girl, after she was stranded for days with a group of migrants on an island on the Evros River bordering Turkey.
Mitarakhi went to visit the Evros region, a day after the police found 35 Syrian migrants and three Palestinians, including a pregnant woman, and seven children who were hiding in Greek territory after crossing from a river to Turkey, according to the network.CNN“.
The network quoted aid organizations and media reports as saying that the Syrian girl was traveling with her parents and sister, and died as a result of a scorpion sting.
The Greek Migration Minister stated that he had spoken to his Turkish counterparts about the matter, and told reporters: “Unfortunately, it seems that the five-year-old girl lost her life on Turkish soil.”
“We will coordinate with the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent to ensure that the girl’s body is brought to Greece so that her family can bury her with dignity,” he added.
The Turkish Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The network stated that the media and activists said that the migrants tried to reach the mainland of Greece, but were prevented from entering.
Greece has repeatedly denied pushing refugees or migrants across its border points.
Mitarakhi pointed out that the group of migrants entered Greek territory for the first time on August 14, and hid for a day. He stated that they had previously been detained by the Turkish authorities and that they were later brought to the bank of the river and forced to cut it. He mentioned that a boat was found near them on Monday.
The Greek Minister of Immigration accused Turkey of pushing the migrants to travel to it, and claimed that “the Turkish police threatened them for illegal crossing into the European Union. This is a completely illegal step and a violation of international law.”
Human rights NGOs and the media have reported that these refugees may be victims of illegal pushbacks between Greece and Turkey, AFP reported.
Greece was on the front line of Europe’s migration crisis in 2015 and 2016 when a million refugees fleeing war and poverty from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan arrived mainly via Turkey.
Arrivals have fallen sharply since then, but in recent months Greek authorities have said they have denied entry to a large number of people.
In May and July, Greece registered 4,126 arrivals, an increase of 113 percent over the same period last year.
Since March 2020, when thousands of migrants tried to cross its borders, Greece has reinforced its patrols, deployed thermal cameras and high-tech radar equipment, and built a five-meter-high metal fence in the Evros region, which is a major transit point for migrants from Turkey to Greece.