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Many deaths in the Aegean Sea and hundreds stuck on Greek Military Island
In the past two weeks, the Alarm Phone witnessed again the deadly consequences of the EU’s border regime, which increasingly foster suffering and despair throughout Europe’s border zone. While attempts to cross the Aegean Sea are on a constant high despite the seasonal weather conditions, with about 25.000 people arriving in Greece per week,[i] more and more sea crossings turn into fatal accidents. In the last two weeks, we were informed about or directly witnessed at least 7 maritime accidents, with more than one hundred deaths, including many children.
Not least due to the EU-enforced presence of Turkish police forces at the coast, travellers are forced to take ever more lengthy and dangerous routes, like for instance in the direction of the Greek island of Farmakonisi, where most of last weeks’ shipwrecks occurred.