Laboratory of Forensic Sciences, School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Dragana, Alexandroupolis 68100, Evros Prefecture, Greece.
Laboratory of Forensic Sciences, School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Dragana, Alexandroupolis 68100, Evros Prefecture, Greece.
Forensic Sci Int. 2019 Sep;302:109875. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.109875. Epub 2019 Jul 27.
The area of the regional unit of Evros in northern Greece is considered the main gateway to the East and marks the end of the European territory and the beginning of the Asian continent. The natural boundary of the Evros River has been the last major obstacle to overcome before entering the Schengen area for hundreds of thousands of migrants on the eastern Mediterranean route. The river stands, however, for the main place of death for thousands of people who try to enter the country, and therefore the European Union, illegally. The international social, political and economic conditions that prevail at times often determine the flows of migration on the eastern Mediterranean route and eastern land border of Greece into the European Union. On the Greek side of the Greek-Turkish border, for the last nineteen years, 398 cadavers of deceased migrants have been recovered. The majority of the illegal immigrants, or asylum seekers, who pass away in the Evros region are found after several days, weeks or even months. The diagnoses of the causes of death and the determination of the time of death are questions the coroner seeks to answer. Consequently, as the majority of the deceased are in an advanced state of putrefaction, the identification and attribution of the corpses to their relatives become matters of crucial importance and a high degree of difficulty. Until today, drowning in the Evros River remains the leading cause of death among border-related death incidents. The present article aims to depict the humanitarian disaster as it unfolds in the regional unit of Evros in northern Greece and the easternmost land border of the European Union along the Mediterranean route as well as the contribution of forensic science to the possible extent.
希腊北部埃夫罗斯地区被认为是通往东方的主要门户，标志着欧洲领土的尽头和亚洲大陆的起点。埃夫罗斯河的自然边界是数十万从中东路线前往申根地区的移民在进入申根地区之前必须克服的最后一个主要障碍。然而，这条河也是数千试图非法进入该国的人死亡的主要地点，因此也是欧盟的主要地点。在某些时候，国际社会、政治和经济条件往往决定了地中海东部路线和希腊东部陆地边界向欧盟的移民流动。在希腊-土耳其边境的希腊一侧，在过去的 19 年里，已经发现了 398 具死亡移民的尸体。在埃夫罗斯地区死亡的大多数非法移民或寻求庇护者都是在几天后、几周甚至几个月后被发现的。死因的诊断和死亡时间的确定是法医试图回答的问题。因此，由于大多数死者已经处于高度腐烂状态，身份识别和将尸体归属于其亲属成为至关重要且极具难度的问题。迄今为止，溺水仍然是与边境相关的死亡事件中最主要的死因。本文旨在描述在希腊北部埃夫罗斯地区和欧盟最东端的地中海路线上的人道主义灾难，以及法医科学在其中的可能贡献。
