Bulgarian authorities responsible for deaths of three Egyptian minors, report says

The Bulgarian authorities were responsible for the deaths of three Egyptian teenagers who died of hypothermia near the country's border wth Turkey in December, a new report has concluded.

Frontex, the EU’s border agency, said in its report into the boys’ deaths that NGO rescue teams shared several alerts about an "immediate risk of death" with the Bulgarian emergency services on 27 December 2024.

Two volunteer-run search and rescue groups, No Name Kitchen (NNK) and Collettivo Rotte Balcaniche previously told MEE that they tried to reach the boys, identified as Ali, Samir, and Yasser, aged 15, 16, and 17, who were lying unconscious in the snow in the forests near the city of Burgas.

They said that the Bulgarian authorities failed to respond to six alerts sent by the groups and barred their own search and rescue attempts.

The report concluded that the authorities were obligated to assist and rescue the minors "as they had sufficient information to reasonably infer there was a life-threatening situation”.

It further stated that “they were aware of the migrants’ location and while having the capacity to act, failed to implement adequate measures in time that resulted in loss of lives”. 

According to the Frontex's Fundamental Rights Office (FRO), the authorities claimed that the alerts "contained false or misleading information" and that the bodies were found in locations different to those specified in the messages sent by the NGOs.

'Failure to take effective measures would confirm once again that those deaths are not an accident but a feature of European border policies'

- Collettivo Rotte Balcaniche statement

However, the report stated that the bodies were found just metres away from the positions specified in the alerts. Moreover, videos of the boys sent accompanying the alerts corresponded with the bodies that were later found at the same locations.

While the FRO could not verify allegations by the NGOs that their rescue efforts were obstructed by the authorities, it found that it was likely that they "actively interfered" with the search and rescue attempts, citing recorded interactions between the authorities and the NGOs.

It added that the fact that the groups only reached the boys' locations after 25 hours, suggested that their efforts were "genuine and likely obstructed" by the authorities.

Additionally, it found that, by doing so, the authorities had violated the right to life, enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It further noted that the fact that the victims were minors could mean they had also failed to fulfil specific child protection obligations.

'A regular practice'

The FRO expressed "deep concern" that the authorities have faced "repeated" allegations of not responding properly to distress calls, noting that “pushbacks, often involving high levels of violence and other inhuman or degrading treatment, are a regular practice by Bulgarian border police”.

It recommended that Frontex "increase its presence and be more actively involved in activities including border surveillance and search and rescue operations".

A spokesperson for Collettivo Rotte Balcaniche told MEE that, following its allegations against the Bulgarian authorities, they had been subject to "multiplying investigations and arrests, in an effort to silence the efforts of NGOs, people on the move and their families to denounce border violence".

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In a statement, the group further denounced Frontex "shamefully using" the boys' deaths as an opportunity to boost its presence in Bulgaria, noting that the agency is under direct command of the Bulgarian authorities, and that it is "senseless" that an increased deployment of its officers would alleviate border violence.

It also noted that, since March, Frontex itself had “repeatedly blocked and tailed rescue teams for hours” and that its officers “directly and repeatedly participated in the criminalisation of civil rescue teams, enforcing the same practices as the Bulgarian Border Police”.

The group emphasised that statements like the FRO report are merely “cosmetic” if not accompanied by action.

“Failure to take effective measures would confirm once again that those deaths are not an accident but a feature of European border policies that can only kill more if not dismantled,” it concluded. 

In recent years, illegal pushbacks and violence against migrants by the Bulgarian police on the Turkish border have soared. 

Bolstered by EU funds and the involvement of Frontex, Balkan countries have erected higher fences and ramped up their border controls, with border police acting with greater impunity to bar people from entering.

After Bulgaria joined the Schengen zone on 1 January, Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov pledged to "strengthen our capacities” on the Bulgarian-Turkish border. 

A 2023 investigation by Lighthouse Reports and other European media outlets found that since 2015, increasing numbers of migrants were “dying without a trace” along the treacherous Balkan route from Turkey to Germany.

It concluded that the "hostility people face at the borders of Europe in life continues into death”.