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News > World

In Desperation, 2 Refugees Attempt Suicide in Greece

  • Refugees and migrants line up for a food distribution at a relocation camp in Schisto, near Athens, Greece, Feb. 25, 2016.

    Refugees and migrants line up for a food distribution at a relocation camp in Schisto, near Athens, Greece, Feb. 25, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 25 February 2016
Opinion

The two men were treated in the hospital and released after attempting to hang themselves in Athens, as thousands of refugees are stranded in Greece.

As scores of refugees continue to face desperate situations along the migration route to Europe, two refugees in Greece attempted to commit suicide in central Athens by hanging themselves with makeshift nooses from a tree on Thursday.

Other refugees rushed to help the two men, who were taken to the hospital for treatment by emergency responders and have since been released in good health, Al Jazeera reported.

The men, both in their mid-20s and from either Syria or Pakistan, fashioned nooses from scarves and clothes in Athens’ Victoria Square, where about 100 refugees out of thousands coming to Greece from Turkey have set up camp in recent days, according to Xinhua.

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The men’s suicide attempt comes as a sign of the desperation and hopelessness of thousands of people who find themselves trapped in Greece, both in Athens and at the northern border where security has been tightened against the flow of refugees.

Meanwhile, European countries are increasing border controls and tightening asylum policies, leaving more refugees stranded.

RELATED: Greece to Impose Strict Controls on Pro-Refugee Activists

With some 3,000 people waiting in limbo at Greece’s border with Macedonia, only 100 were allowed to cross over on Thursday. In Athens, smugglers try to pick up refugees at a price of US$3,300 a head to make the journey.

In the first month and a half of 2016, 413 people out of the more than 100,000 making the trip across Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece and Italy have drowned, marking a sharp 35-fold increase from the beginning of 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Over 1 million refugees have arrived in Greece since January 2015.

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