Watch
The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – April 8th 2021

Case name: 2021_04_08AEG781

Situation: 50-60 people, including families and children stuck on an islet in the river Evros at the landborder between Greece and Turkey after a pushback, brought to Istanbul

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of Case
In the evening of April 8th the Alarm Phone was alerted to a group of men in distress at the landborder between Greece and Turkey. The person calling us claimed that they got abused by the Greek border police and he managed together with some friends to get back to Istanbul,but there were still people stuck at an islet in the Evros river at the landborder. At the same time the Alarm Phone got alerted to the same case by a person who had just managed to escape. He claimed that there were 50-60 people who were brought to an islet in the Evros river. Everything had been taken from them (papers, money, phones,clothes, shoes) and young people even got beaten up. The weather was very rainy and cold and there was no shelter for the people. He was concerned for the children who could die from the cold. He managed to cross the river in the morning and get to Turkey where he reported the case. The people on the islet didn’t have a phone. We later discovered that the people got arrested in Greece by the Greek police who took their phones, clothes and shoes and after prison they were brought to the islet in the river. We informed local authorities, but they did not know anything about the case. Later on we got a confirmation that they were rescued by the Turkish police and brought to Istanbul.