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Greece says it has not detected any people on the islet which it
says is outside Greek territory, according to its migration
minister Notis Mitarachi. Athens has alerted Turkish authorities
over the issue, he said.
The Turkish interior ministry declined to comment.
"We call on the responsible authorities on either side to
facilitate assistance to these people, evacuate them from this
islet to safety, and ensure their fair and full access to asylum
procedures," said Dimitra Kalogeropoulou, IRC Greece Director.
The IRC said that on the islet is a nine-year old girl in a
critical condition and without access to medical attention. It
also cited media reports saying that her five-year-old sister
had died after a scorpion stung her and that the refugees tried
to reach the Greek mainland but were pushed back.
"This latest situation at the Evros border highlights the
brutality of pushbacks, which we know are taking place at
borders across Europe," Kalogeropoulou said.
Greek authorities have not confirmed any of the information and
have repeatedly denied forcibly repelling refugees or migrants
at border points.
"We conducted repeated searches, with suitable technical means,
without detecting any human presence on the islet," Mitarachi
said on Twitter on Sunday. "It has been confirmed that this is a
point outside Greek territory so we immediately notified Turkish
authorities."
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Ece Toksabay, editing by Mark
Heinrich)
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