Body recovered from Evros river in N. Greece as migrants' flows continue

by Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, Dec. 29 (Xinhua)-- The body of a 20-25 year old man, most likely an African migrant, was recovered from the waters of Evros river on the border with Turkey in northern Greece, police said on Friday.

Coroner Pavlos Pavlidis told Greek national news agency AMNA that in the local mortuary refrigerators there were seven more unidentified bodies, probably all of migrants and refugees who attempted to cross the river in recent months.

"I can keep the bodies in the university's refrigerators for approximately 4 to 5 months but if there are indications that the body may be recognized then we can keep it up to six months," the coroner said.

Despite the adverse weather conditions and the 10 km long and 3 meter high fence which was erected five years ago, on average 30 migrants and refugees still attempt to cross Evros on a daily basis over the past year and a half, according to local authorities.

The closure of the borders along the western Balkan route to central Europe in the winter of 2016 and the EU-Turkey agreement to stem the influx via the Aegean Sea reduced the average number of people attempting to enter Greece from 10,000 a day to about 100 per day.

As newcomers are stranded for several months in closed hotspots on the Greek islands in very difficult conditions, until their asylum bids are processed, as dictated by the EU-Turkey deal, traffickers have shifted weight to other routes, including Evros. Enditem