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16 people – emigrants tragically died in the waters of the Maritsa river, as they drowned trying to cross to Greece by arrangement with Turkish traffickers.

The tragedy took place in the area of Dilofo and it began since Friday, when the Greek policemen discovered at the river bank 25 immigrants from Africa who crossed the border illegally, including ten children. The emigrants said that two more women were with them who failed to swim to the land and drowned. As revealed by their stories the Turkish traffickers have left them to get by as they can after they had previously taken 1000 euros per person to take them to Greece.

Turkish traffickers gave them a boat, in which fitted half of the emigrants, and the others for whom there was no place in the boat had to swim across the river. But the people died in their attempt to overcome the strong flow of the river and to reach the opposite bank where they believed expected them a better life.

Those who could swim managed to survive and got out on the Greek bank of the Maritza River. When police found them, they said that there were other people with them who may have drowned. Yesterday morning police discovered nine bodies at the Greek bank of the river – the bodies of six men and three women and another five on the Turkish coast. Through the consulate in Edirne the Turkish authorities were informed about the tragedy. All drowned were young people aged between 20 and 25 years. According to the hypothesis they have fallen into the river after the boat they were in flipped upside down.

The bodies were transported to the hospital of Alexandroupolis for an autopsy. The director of the hospital Nikos Raptopulos anxiously said that these stories have become a part of the daily life and the phenomenon of the unregulated migration has acquired a huge scale and unprecedented things are happening and because of that emergency measures have to be taken.

Meanwhile, the police continues to research, because they might find people who may have escaped. In a tragic irony of fate, at a meeting of the Experts Committee of the Greek and the Turkish Government on Monday and Tuesday, which was held in the Greek Ministry of civil protection was discussed precisely the question of illegal trafficking of people.

Ministers agreed that contact offices should be established to facilitate communication between the two countries to improve the cooperation for identifying of the personal data of immigrants they deport, to apply a procedure for returning emigrants through Turkey to third countries, to exchange statistics and both countries to inform each other on the relevant instructions on the laws on the matters of unregulated migration.