According to a BBC analysis, the nine are among the more than 40 individuals who have been reported dead as a result of being forcefully expelled from Greek territorial seas or sent back out to sea after reaching the Greek islands.
The BBC analyzed 15 incidents dating back to May 2020-23 and around 43 deaths were confirmed. Local media, NGOs and the Turkish coast guard, were the sources the BBC used in collating its findings.
“In five of the incidents, migrants said they were thrown directly into the sea by the Greek authorities. In four of those cases they explained how they had landed on Greek islands but were hunted down. In several other incidents, migrants said they had been put onto inflatable rafts without motors which then deflated, or appeared to have been punctured.” the report reads.
One of the accounts collated by the BBC is of a man from Cameroonian descent who revealed that he was hunted by Greek authorities once he landed on the island of Samos in September 2021. He initially had plans to register as an asylum seeker in the country.
His account involving him, another Cameroonian and an Ivorian reads; “We had barely docked, and the police came from behind us. There were two policemen dressed in black, and three others in civilian clothes. They were masked, you could only see their eyes.”
He added; They started with the [other] Cameroonian. They threw him in the water. The Ivorian man said: ‘Save me, I don’t want to die… and then eventually only his hand was above water, and his body was below. Slowly his hand slipped under, and the water engulfed him. Punches were raining down on my head. It was like they were punching an animal.”
According to his account, they eventually threw him also into the water, but he was able to swim to safety, however, the remains of the other two, Didier Martial Kouamou Nana and Sidy Keita, were found along the Turkish shoreline. The victims’ representatives are demanding that the Greek authorities initiate a case of double murder.
Another account by a Somalian reads; “They threw me zip-tied in the middle of the sea. They wanted me to die.” He noted that he survived by floating on his back, before one of his hands broke free from the ligature.
