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This archived version of an article from Der Spiegel claims that a 5-year-old refugee girl died helpless in an island at the Greece-Turkey border because she was stung by a scorpion (also found in: Le Monde).

»Ein fünfjähriges Mädchen ist tot, gestochen von einem Skorpion«, schluchzt die Frau, »auch ihre Schwester wurde gestochen, wir brauchen hier dringend Hilfe!«

Translation:

"A five-year-old girl is dead, stung by a scorpion," the woman sobs, "her sister was stung too, we need help here urgently!"

However, it seems that the article has now been removed.

An dieser Stelle befand sich ein Beitrag über das Schicksal einer Flüchtlingsgruppe am griechisch-türkischen Grenzfluss Evros im Sommer 2022. Mittlerweile gibt es Zweifel an der bisherigen Schilderung der damaligen Geschehnisse. Wir haben daher mehrere Beiträge zu diesem Thema vorläufig von unserer Website entfernt. Wir überprüfen unsere Berichterstattung und entscheiden nach Abschluss der Recherchen, ob die Beiträge gegebenenfalls in korrigierter und aktualisierter Form erneut veröffentlicht werden

which, according to DeepL Translator means:

On this site there was an article about the fate of a group of refugees at the Greek-Turkish border river Evros in the summer of 2022. In the meantime, there are doubts about the previous account of what happened at that time. We have therefore temporarily removed several contributions on this topic from our website. We are reviewing our reporting and will decide after the research has been completed whether the articles will be published again in a corrected and updated form, if necessary.

The Greek Minister of Migration & Asylum has also disputed that the girl died.

So: did the 5-year-old girl really die?

double-beep
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    If the Der Spiegel voluntarily pulls an article, there is a really good chance that the original was wrong or at least not properly sourced or fact checked, – Hilmar Dec 26 '22 at 16:39
  • While this story is disputed there definitely are cases of small children dying while their families where trying to get to Europe. – quarague Dec 30 '22 at 09:42
  • As the article in Greek (you linked) says this is still undergoing investigations, judicial review etc., it's probably inappropriate for this site, at this time. – Fizz Jan 16 '23 at 02:42

1 Answers1

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There will likely never be an answer to this

From DW:

[A French reporter in Greece] said that the situation for journalists in Greece is becoming increasingly difficult, especially in the Evros River region where independent reporting is hardly possible because the border is a restricted military area. [...]

So far, Greek authorities have provided no evidence that the girl did not die or did not exist. What is certain is that the girl's parents continue to maintain that their daughter died on the island in the Evros River. What is also certain is that the parents, along with their other children and the rest of the group, were stuck on such an island for weeks and were not rescued.

The girl's body, if it exists, is buried on an island in the middle of the Evros River which, in the current refugee situation is administered (barely) by Greece, but only the military is allowed near the island and they maintain a silence on this issue.

According to the refugee NGO organizing group Are You Syrious?, Greece does not usually send identifiable units to the island; instead, refugees are pushed back to Turkey (against international law) by masked men in unmarked clothing.

Avery
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  • FWTW, this August [article](https://www.euronews.com/2022/08/16/girl-confirmed-dead-as-greece-finds-38-migrants-stranded-near-turkish-border) by AP/AFP/Euronews has not been retracted AFAICT, and it says "Greek authorities have confirmed that a five-year-old has died after she was discovered trapped on an islet with a group of migrants." No mention of details on a scorpion and such. – Fizz Jan 16 '23 at 02:25
  • OTOH, Der Spiegel did retract a story that had more details, according to Greek media https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1201382/german-weekly-retracts-story-on-death-of-stranded-syrian-child-at-evros-border/ Apparently the rub is that Greece insists the islet is Turkish territory http://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/42809/greece-parents-of-syrian-child-who-died-stranded-in-evros-testify-in-court – Fizz Jan 16 '23 at 02:27
  • Thanks, I remembered there was something weird about the island's sovereignty but completely forgot the details – Avery Jan 16 '23 at 03:12
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    The more recent article that the OP linked to (in Greek) even denies there was a death of any kind, so I suppose that was their real question/concern. OTOH, the same article talks of ongoing investigations and judicial review in Greece, so probably a bad Q here in that regard. But such deaths at river crossings are [hardly](http://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/37158/10yearold-girl-dies-at-sloveniacroatia-border) uncommon, so the media can be excused for running with it... – Fizz Jan 16 '23 at 03:15