By the end of December three boys froze to death near Gabar/Burgas by the end of December 2024. Later they were identified at a morgue as 17-year-old Ahmed Samra, 16-year-old Ahmed Elawdan and 15-year-old Seifalla Elbeltagy. They had “irregular“ crossed from Turkey to Bulgaria by foot.
The NGOs No Name Kitchen (NNK) and Collettivo Rotte Balcaniche (CRB) accuse the Bulgarian border police of having them prevented to rescue the three Egyptian minors. Members of the NGOs got arrested and their car smashed. Arresting of some group members already happened in September 2024, as well. Both NGOs published also a report including testimonies and a legal analysis of the incidents at the border.
The Bulgarian authorities denied the allegations, so far. Every year numerous people are dying on their attempt to flee into the European Union through Bulgaria. The organization Mission Wings reports regularly cases where unaccompanied migrant children “were found in distress or dead“. Recently the body of a 16-year-old boy was found months ago after being reported as missing.
At the border to Turkey there are a numerous amount of Frontex guards working, which are also reported to do voluntary return counseling. On the 1st of January 2025 Bulgaria and Romania fully joined the Schengen area. On the 3rd of February 2025 a “joint contingent of border security officers from Bulgaria, Austria, Romania, and Hungary“ started to operate at the Bulgarian-Turkish border.
One of the NGOs posted a video on their account about the situation at the border in December 2024.