NEWS

Two immigrants killed in border minefield

Two illegal immigrants were killed by mines in an Evros border minefield on Saturday night while trying to clandestinely enter Greece from Turkey, military officials said. Army mine-clearing specialists recovered the bodies of the victims, only identified as Georgian men aged 55 and 29, over 11 hours after the explosion in a minefield at Kastanies in Thrace, some 1,000 kilometers northeast of Athens. An army release yesterday said the minefield was enclosed by a double fence that was signposted with phosphorescent warnings in Greek and in English. Saturday’s two deaths raised to at least 73 the number of people – almost all illegal immigrants – killed in Evros minefields since 1997, when the international Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines was signed. Greece ratified the treaty in 2003, but still has tens of thousands of mines in the Evros area.

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