Migrant Woman Shot Dead While Crossing Evros River From Turkey

A migrant was killed by gunfire at the Greece-Turkey border while she and several others attempted to cross the Evros river separating the two countries, Greek police said on April 17th.

Greek police announced late Saturday that they located a group of people in the region of Soufli getting on board a boat on the Turkish side of Evros with the intention of illegally entering Greece.

Police said that in order to intercept their entrance, they used flashlights and warned them to go back, but at the same time, shots were heard from the other side.

According to the same announcement, the Greek police officers took cover and shot in the air as the firings from the other side continued.

“When the boat arrived at the Greek side, five of the refugees disembarked while the others went back to Turkey. Four of them swam and managed to enter Greece while a woman’s body was found floating in the water,” the announcement said.

Police questioned the four survivors—three Pakistani males, one of them a minor (17 years old) and a woman from Eritrea.

Coroner Pavlos Pavlidis, who performed the autopsy on the woman in the northeastern city of Alexandroupolis, told the AP that the victim was between the ages of 20 and 25 and that she was most likely from one of the countries of the Horn of Africa.

She had a wound “in the upper right (back) area. She was shot from a close distance and died almost instantly from post-hemorrhagic (blood loss) shock,” Pavlidis said.

Evros River is a crossing for migrants

For many years, people on migratory journeys have crossed the Evros from Turkey to enter the European Union.

In August 2021, Greece completed a 37-km (24-mile) fence along its border with Turkey, and a new surveillance system was put in place in attempt to prohibit possible migrants and refugees from reaching Europe.

The 5-meter (16.4 foot) tall fence and eight observation towers have been erected in the area of ​​Ferres,in the southern part of the border.

The area is difficult for police to traverse because the Evros River does not function as a natural border since some Turkish territory extends west of the river bank.

Greece aims to prevent a recurrence of the events of 2020 when thousands of migrants and asylum seekers violently tried to storm the Greek border at Evros, demanding passage into the EU.