Children abandoned on rafts?: Greeks deny pushback allegations

Dozens of migrants are on a boat from Lebanon to Italy.

Children abandoned on rafts?: Greeks deny pushback allegations

Dozens of migrants are on a boat from Lebanon to Italy. When their petrol runs out, they ask the Greek Coast Guard for help. Instead of receiving support, the fugitives were abandoned on rafts. Five children die. Turkey raises serious allegations.

The Greek Coast Guard has denied claims from Turkey that it abandoned dozens of migrants on rafts in the Mediterranean Sea, risking the deaths of several children. "The statement by the Turkish coast guard is categorically denied," it said in a statement late Tuesday evening. Rather, the incident took place in Turkish territorial waters. Your own officials had nothing to do with it, stressed the headquarters of the Greek coast guard.

The Turkish coast guard previously said it had rescued 73 migrants in the Mediterranean who had been illegally pushed back by Greek authorities. Six people - including two infants and three older children - were found dead, the state news channel TRT reported on Tuesday evening, citing the national coast guard. Five people are also missing.

According to the Turkish account, the migrants were traveling from Lebanon to Italy in a 15-meter-long wooden boat. When the petrol ran out, they asked the Greek coast guard off the island of Rhodes for help. Instead, they dropped the migrants on four life rafts near the Turkish coastal waters. The incident happened on Tuesday night.

Greece is repeatedly accused of so-called pushbacks - i.e. the illegal pushing back of migrants - into Turkey. Athens regularly rejects the allegations and speaks of so-called "pushforwards", with which migrants are pushed by Turkish security forces by land or sea to Greece in order to get into the EU.