12 FRONTIER EUROPE Human rights abuses on Greece’s border with Turkey B. said that the Turkish coastguard rescued him and his fellow travellers. They were then detained in a removal centre for irregular migrants awaiting deportation. B.’s story and the testimonies of other refugees and migrants point to the blatant disregard shown by the Greek coastguard for human life during push-back operations carried out in the Aegean Sea. 13 of the 14 interviewees who described being pushed-back to Turkey in the Aegean Sea described similar experiences of their inflatable boats being rammed or knifed, or nearly capsized while they were being towed or circled by a Greek coastguard boat, their engines disabled, their oars removed, and their occupants left in the middle of the sea on unseaworthy vessels. B.’s story also demonstrates that even children are put at risk, are illtreated and deprived of their belongings. On 12 April 2013, Y., a Syrian woman in her early 30s, explained to Amnesty International that she left Syria with her six children to reach her husband in Switzerland. She boarded a small boat in Turkey with approximately 30 others. She claimed that their boat was rammed by the Greek coastguard near Agathonisi island, when the coastguard steered their boat towards theirs to scare them off to go back to Turkey. In the chaos, Y.’s four-year-old daughter fell into the sea: “A Greek policeman jumped into the sea and rescued my daughter. Then they took us to Agathonisi Island where we were detained for seven days. We were incredibly dirty and wet. But there was no shower and they did not give us dry clothes. They only gave us water; not even food. I had 100 euros with me. I spent it all to buy food in detention. A week later, they transferred us to Samos Island. I had no money left, so I couldn’t even buy food. A policeman brought cookies for my children.” Similar life-endangering practices are also reported by those apprehended after crossing the River Evros. N. from Darfur told Amnesty International that he was left on a small island in the middle of the river with his hands tied: “I first tried to go to Greece on 25 December 2012 with three other men I met in Istanbul. We arrived in Orestiada and were captured by the Greek police. They took us to a police station and put us in a small room. There were already seven others in this room. There were two Nigerian women; the rest were all men. We were kept there for 14 hours or so. I think it was in the afternoon when they brought water and bread. They threw them at us. That was all they gave us. “At around 9pm the Greek police tied our hands behind our backs with plastic. I saw them throw our bags into the garbage and then they took us in a small bus back to the river. There were two boats waiting in the river. They untied the hands of one of the Nigerian women; she looked sick. Then they forced us onto the boats. I was scared of falling off into the river with tied hands. They told us to get off on a small island in the middle of the river; and then they left. They didn’t even untie our hands but left us like that in the middle of the river. After about 40 minutes, the Turkish police found us on the island.” Such treatment was also reported by D., aged 28, from Sudan. He told Amnesty International that he almost drowned because he fell into the water as the Greek police were putting him ashore on the Turkish side of the River Evros in August 2012: Amnesty International July 2013 Index: 25/008/2013