A female migrant was shot dead while trying to cross into Greece from Turkey by boat, Greek police informed.
The happening occurred at the Evros River on Sunday, distancing some 70 kilometres (40 miles), located in the northeast of the Greek city Alexandroupolis.
The woman was believed to have been aboard a boat carrying migrants who ignored the Greek side’s warnings to turn around.
Further, the police stated that a group of ten were caught trying to cross into Greek territory by boat from the area of Soufli.
“The Greek police indicated for them to stop, but they did not follow. Shots were heard from the Turkish side. Greek border guards shot into the air to protect themselves,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman told about the firing incident that the Greek border guards noticed four men were swimming ashore and found a woman floating in the water to be shot in the back around chest level.
An investigation has been conducted to examine the incident. There was no immediate comment on the incident from the Turkish side.
It has been identified that the woman was from Africa and her wound indicated that she shot with a gun not usually used by the Greek border police, suggesting that her smuggler may have shot her.
The migrants who were rescued, with a child among them, informed the authorities in a police statement that they paid 2,000 euros ($2,160) per person to the smuggler in İstanbul to carry them to Athens.
After many migrants tried to cross the Evros River from Turkey in March 2020, Greece bolstered border patrols and installed cameras, radar and a 40-kilometre (25-mile) steel fence over five meters (16 feet) high in the area where shooting incidents are not uncommon.
