Five-year-old Syrian girl is ‘killed by a SCORPION’ on Greek border
A five-year-old refugee girl is thought to have died after being stung by a scorpion while trapped on an uninhabited island between the Greek and Turkish border.
The girl, named only as Maria, was part of a group of 39 migrants – 22 men, nine women and eight children – who say they were left stranded in no-man’s land for more than a month after both Greece and Turkey refused to take them in.
Baida, a 27-year-old woman travelling with the group, said they arrived on an unnamed island in the Evros river on July 14 but were left without food, water, or access to medicine as the two countries argued over who was responsible.
The group was eventually rescued on Monday by Greek authorities who finally acknowledged they were responsible for their safety.
Baida, a 27-year-old Syrian woman, says she and a group of 39 refugees were stuck on the border between Turkey and Greece for a month while the two argued over taking them
Greece’s migration ministry said the group were in ‘very good condition’ but that a heavily pregnant woman had been taken to hospital as a precaution.
However, Baida has told a different story – claiming that two young men drowned trying to get off the island before Maria was stung by a scorpion and died from the venom last week, Channel 4 News reported.
She claimed Maria’s sister, nine-year-old Aiya, was also stung and left in a critical condition.
Baida said: ‘What’s going to happen? Maybe we all die in the morning. This island is full of snake, scorpions and lots of insects.
‘Please help. I swear it’s hell on earth and no-one can help us.’
Greek authorities have not confirmed this account, and did not mention a child taken to intensive care following the rescue.
However, Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi has said that authorities will return to the island today to search for the dead girl’s body.
Baida said the group had landed on the island on July 14, and that Greek authorities had been made aware of their location several days later.
Among the group were 22 men, nine women and eight children – with one of the children, five, said to have died of a scorpion sting while on the island
The group say they were left to fend for themselves on a ‘hell-hole island’ covered in snakes and scorpions, and without any access to food or clean water
Despite being on the Greek side of the river, Baida claims authorities arrived and pushed them back into Turkey on July 26.
She further claims the Turks took her and her companions around 16 miles north and dumped them on a second island on August 1.
A week later, following an armed standoff between Turkey and Greece, she claims the Turks took the group back to the original island on August 7.
Baida says the island has little food or clean water, and was crawling with insects, snakes and scorpions.
She desperately appealed to Greek authorities via aid groups to come to her rescue.
Charity workers say they were prevented by Greece from going to aid Baida and the rest of her group.
Greece now says confusion over the location of the group stopped officials from saving the migrants sooner.
It says that, after they were found earlier this week, rescue workers were able to go and bring the migrants to safety.
Greece and Turkey – who have fought multiple wars against each-other – have been locked in a tense standoff over migrants for years.
Turkey has taken in millions of refugees from conflicts that have devastated neighbouring nations Iraq and Syria.
Baida claims two men drowned trying to swim off the island to safety, and another girl – nine-year-old Aiya – was also stung by a scorpion and was critically ill
Greece eventually rescued the migrants on Monday, a month after they first arrived on the island, after accepting responsibility for them
The EU pays Turkey billions of euros to keep the migrants there, fearing a repeat of the 2016 migrant crisis if they are allowed to freely cross into Greece – an EU state.
But thousands still attempt the crossing every year. In 2021, more than 9,000 came – roughly half by sea who generally land on small islands near the Turkish coast, and the other half by land via the Evros river.
So far in 2022, some 7,500 have tried to cross – split roughly in half between water and land routes, according to UN data.
Around 100 people have died each year attempting the crossing since the EU began cracking down on arrivals in 2017, the UN says.
The crisis has occasionally prompted clashes between Greece and Turkey.
In 2020, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threw open his side of the border to migrants following the death of dozens of Turkish troops in Syria.
Erdogan accused EU leaders of failing to show support for his intervention in Syria, where Turkish-backed rebels were fighting Russian-backed government troops.
More than 10,000 migrants attempted to storm the border prompting ugly clashes involving tear gas and riot police.
