According to her parents, Maria had a strong character and was full of dreams.

She loved comics and wanted to be a TV star.

Now Maria is dead. She died at the beginning of August at Europe's external border because the Greek authorities refused her any help.

She just turned five years old.”

Michael Hanfeld

responsible editor for feuilleton online and "media".

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The report by the "Spiegel" correspondent Giorgos Christides on the fate of the so-called "Evros 38" begins at the end of August with this sad finding and a clear accusation.

A group of Syrian refugees made headlines in the international media under the heading "Evros 38".

Between mid-July and mid-August, 38 refugees were stuck on a small island in the middle of the Greek-Turkish border river Evros.

A girl named Maria, five years old, died there from a scorpion bite because the Greek authorities did not provide any help.

That's what NGOs said, "Spiegel" and the British broadcaster Channel 4.

At the moment, however, the "Spiegel" is no longer talking about it.

Since November 8, anyone who wants to call up the correspondent's articles in question has been notified.

“At this point”, it is now said, “there was an article about the fate of a group of refugees on the Greek-Turkish border river Evros in the summer of 2022. There are now doubts about the previous description of what happened at that time.

We have therefore temporarily removed several articles on this topic from our website.” This affects reports by the correspondent from Greece;

a passage referring to the accusation was provisionally deleted from a commentary on the situation of Syrian refugees.

The specialist publication "Medieninsider" first became aware of the process.

Did Mary even exist?

Has a girl died on the island in the border river Evros?

Did Mary even exist?

If you follow the reports of the "Spiegel" and the film from Channel 4, there is no doubt about it.

The child's parents and others from the refugee group testify to this.

The Channel 4 film shows footage from a cell phone video taken by a woman in the group and sent out as a call for help.

She says the island she and the others are stuck on is inhabited by snakes, scorpions and insects.

Two stills show swollen limbs of children who are said to have been bitten by a scorpion.

A nine-year-old girl is said to be in critical condition, and five-year-old Maria died on August 9.

However, she can also be seen in a still image – alive.

That didn't fail to have an effect.

NGOs were up in arms, the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, reprimanded the Greek government, referring to the girl's death.

On August 16, Greek border guards found the group of refugees who were previously said not to have been located.

The "Spiegel" correspondent Christides doubted that, in the blocked articles it is said that he immediately gave the refugees' call for help to the Greek authorities.

They in turn say that the small island does not belong to Greece at all, but to Turkey.

The refugees were pushed across the Evros by Turkish border guards.

The Turkish government rejected the representation.