In the early hours of Sunday, January 30, a group of 21 refugees arrived by boat north of Gridia, Chios south east.
Immediately after arriving they split up in several smaller group, hiding in the surrounding areas, scared to be located by police and pushed back to Turkey.
At first light a group of 12 people was located and arrested by Greek police. Another group of six people hiding in the same area, observed while police transported the 12 people away in a van.
At 12.15 Turkish coast guard found and rescued 12 people from a life raft drifting outside Cesme, Turkey, the same 12 people who had been arrested on Chios earlier this day.
The group of six stayed in hiding in the area throughout the day, in the afternoon they moved towards Nenita. While walking the group was detected by police, only two of them got away. At 19.30 they walked into Nenita, and at 20.00 we received pictures of them outside the Agioi Anargyroi church in Nenita.
From google street view we can easily find the church, so there is no doubt that they were in Nenita, Chios. At 21.45 all contact was lost, we assume that police found them, we have no information what happened to these two, but police on Chios claims that there were no new arrivals in this area.
In the early hours of Monday, while it was still dark, three men was taken out to sea by the Hellenic coast guard, and thrown directly into the sea, no boat, no life raft, one of them couldn’t even swim.
According to a statement taken and published by the Turkish coast guard, only two of them made it ashore, one is missing and believed to be drowned.
A rescue operation has been ongoing all day to try to locate the man missing, so far without results.
The incident is being investigated by the Public Prosecutors Office in Cesme.
It’s actually difficult to know what to believe, because it’s just to cruller to be true. Unfortunately there are many similar reports from this area outside Chios, where people claims to have been thrown directly into the sea by the Greek Coast Guard, some even handcuffed with plastic strips.
There seems to be no end to the cruelty inflicted on these poor souls, as if they mean nothing to anyone, non humans that can be disposed of without any consequences.
I’m ashamed, lost for words.