Ten migrants were traveling in a car that was driving at high speed on the wrong side of the road to avoid a police check. It was then that the car collided with another car driven by a Greek man. The man died.
The surviving five migrants – whose nationalities are not known – were taken to hospital along with the car’s driver.
Thousands of migrants have in recent years made their way from Turkey to Greece in the hope of reaching Western Europe, and more accidents like Saturday’s have occurred in recent times.
It has become more difficult for migrants to reach Greek islands as surveillance of the Aegean Sea has increased. More people therefore try to cross the river Evros and let smugglers take them on from there.
Non-governmental organizations accuse Greece of illegally pushing back asylum seekers crossing the river, which Athens denies.
In an attempt to reduce the flow of migrants, the country’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has tried to get the EU to consider financial support to extend a fence along the border with Turkey.
The fence is now 38 kilometers long and Athens has decided to extend it by 35 kilometers within a year.