13. Lost and dead at the borders 88 With the hope of finding my two daughters we returned to Greece. We crossed the river again and went directly to Orestiada Police Headquarters in order to report the loss of our daughters. We asked the police for help. They said we should tell that to the place they will bring us to. Then they brought us to Fylakio detention centre. Upon registration we said that we had lost our daughters. It was horrible. We asked for help and they showed us a catalogue of food in order to identify our nationality.« S.J.M. from Afghanistan lost his 14-year-old brother at the border. Even though he had reported the disappearance of his brother upon arrest the police keeps him in detention in Tychero. He is in a very bad psychological condition. »In mid-August, 2011 I was on my way to Greece with my 14-year-old brother. At the river we were separated. I was told to enter the boat and wait for my brother on the other side. I didn’t want to leave him behind, but they didn’t allow me to stay with him. When our boat arrived at the other side I looked back but there was no second boat following and no people visible at the Turkish coast. I waited, but nobody came. We were arrested and brought to Fylakio where I stayed only one day. I went to Athens in the hope of finding my brother there. For one and a half months I was sleeping on the streets and in the parks. I had no money. Then my father called from Afghanistan. Our mother had died. He told me I had to go and find my smaller brother. With the little money he sent to me I went to Evros. I was walking along the rails when I arrived at the back entrance of Tychero. I stopped to ask for my brother. The police asked me for my papers. I showed them my deportation order. They said: ›Your papers are invalid, we will put you in prison.‹ The 30-days period had passed. Upon registration I told that I am missing my brother. First they told me that they would help me. Then the interpreter said: ›You are lying!‹ Nobody ever asked me again about my brother. I don’t care that I am in detention, even though I don’t know why I am the only Afghan they keep inside. I just want to find my brother alive.«252 13.2 Death at the border In 1974, Greece laid 57 minefields along the Evros River, on this heavily militarized north-eastern part of its border with Turkey. First deaths at the borders date back to that period, when mostly Turkish Kurds tried to cross. In 2009, Greece completed clearance of antipersonnel mines in the 57 mined areas it laid along the border with Turkey. The 252 S.J.M. from Afghanistan; October 13, 2011 – Tychero 253 Statement of Greece, Second Review Conference, Cartagena, December 1, 2009 Graveyard – August 2010 total area of clearance was almost 1.93km2 and contained 24,751 antipersonnel mines.253 Over the past two years the causes of most deaths are drowning and hypothermia. A smaller number of deaths are the result of car and train accidents. According to the Coroner of Thrace region, in 2010 70 migrants died in the area, of which 46 remain unidentified. By August 2011, another 47 migrants lost their lives when crossing the borders and 10 died in a car accident shortly after. There are many reasons why crossing the river is a great danger for irregular migrants, as the Coroner of Thrace explained.254 »The first factor is the river itself. It is a big river with a very strong current. The water is dirty and the ground is muddy, with an uneven texture. This means that there are many branches glued to the bottom of the river. In addition, at one meter distance from the riverbank its’ depth is 50 cm; the next step that one might take is at a depth of three meters because the vortex of the river creates so called holes. A second factor increasing the danger is that migrants usually cross at night, in fear and anxiety. They don’t see where they are going which makes them panic easily. Many of them don’t know how to swim. If they fall into the water they will lose the feeling of space and they might drown. Finally, the migrants are often not allowed to carry their bags with them due to lack of space in the inflatable boats, which results in one person wearing three shirts, three pairs of trousers one on top of the other. If they fall in the water the weight of the wet clothes will pull them down.« 254 Interview by Infomobile: September 3, 2011, Alexandroupolis