On the 28th of February, BMB received a message from a kurdish and arabic speaking group of 34 refugees, who were urgently calling out for help, via WhatsApp. The people were lost for days in the forests between Bulgaria and Serbia. A father of a daughter sent a voice message and tried to describe the situation on the spot:
My daughter, we cannot stand it any longer. We are in a dying condition. The children are dying. Since three days we have neither eaten nor drunk. We did not flee voluntarily. My daughter, we cannot stand it any longer. We will all die!
The group managed to send the coordinates of their location, as well. Luckily, a Serbian emergency unit rescued the people after some hours. There are rumors about more refugees who try to find their way beside the official “humanitarian corridor”. Since it is only possible to get the new biometric paper at the Greek-Macedonian border, to travel in a legal way to Europe, many people are stuck on their way in the mountains, forests or elsewhere, because they are trying to search for other ways. The new regulation leads obviously to more confusion and suffering for the ones who attempt to run away from war and destruction.
Update: After the Serbian Borderpolice explained the rescued group that it is only possible to ask for asylum in Serbia, the people decided to head back to Bulgaria. There they were arrested by the police. 13 people of the group had already a running asylum procedure in Bulgaria and were sent free after their documents were being checked. The other 21 people were brought to the detention center in Lyubimets.