Greek migration minister Notis Mitarakis said Greece will try to retrieve the body of the five-year-old migrant girl who died on an Evros river islet on the border with Turkey while with a group of migrants.
Mr Mitarakis was on a visit to the Evros region yesterday in response to reports that police had found a group of 35 Syrians and three Palestinians, including a pregnant woman and seven children hiding on the Greek side of the border after crossing the river from Turkey, reported Kathimerini from a report by Reuters.
Aid agencies and media reported that the child, who was travelling with her parents and sister from Syria had died from the sting of a scorpion.
The minister said last week that the islet on the Evros River on which the migrants had been sheltering was Turkish land and that Greek officials had contacted their Turkish counterparts.
“Sadly it appears that a girl aged five years lost her life on Turkish soil. … We will coordinate with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent to ensure that the body of this girl is brought to Greece to be buried with dignity with her family,” Mr Mitarakis told media on Tuesday.
He said the migrant group entered Greek territory for the first time on 14 August and went into hiding. Before that they had been held by Turkish authorities and brought to the banks of the Evros River and forced to cross over and that on Monday a boat had been found near where the migrants had been found.
“They were threatened by Turkish police to illegally cross into the European Union. That is a push forward which is completely illegal and in breach of international law,” Mr Mitarakis told reporters.