The corpse of a person was found this Saturday floating in the Bidasoa in Irun, in the Endarlaza area, on the border with Navarra, as reported by the Security Department of the Basque Government. The “first indications” suggest that the body is that of a young migrant of African origin who was trying to reach Hendaye swimming across the river.

An athlete who practiced paddle surfing has been the one who has given notice, around 11:00 in the morning, that there was a body floating in the water.

After the alert, members of the Fire Brigade and the Ertzaintza have traveled to the place, also by helicopter, and have recovered the body, which has been transferred to the forensic anatomy.

The Ertzaintza has opened an investigation to clarify the facts and some documents have been found among the victim’s belongings that could facilitate their identification. The body does not show “any” signs of “criminality,” according to the Department of Security.

If it is confirmed that it is a migrant who intended to avoid police controls, it would be the third person drowned In recent months trying to cross from Irun to Hendaia, along with a fourth who committed suicide by throwing herself into the river, and to which we must add the other three migrants who died when they were run over by a train in Ziburu (Lapurdi).

The Director of Migration and Asylum of the Basque Government once again asks for “safe corridors for transit”

The Director of Migration and Asylum of the Basque Government, Xabier Legarreta, has stated that, “unfortunately, Episodes like these can be repeated until Europe creates safe corridors for transit of people just trying to find a better future. “

“Offering an adequate response to this reality is an obligation in domestic and European law, and in international law,” stressed Legarreta, who recalled that after his death in August Abdoulaye Koulibaly, an 18-year-old Guinean who died under the same circumstances, the information about the “dangerousness of Bidasoa” was “intensified” at the Irun migrant care center.

Earlier, on May 22, the body of Yaya Karamoko, 29 years old, and a native of Ivory Coast.

The Director of Migration and Asylum has stated that “there is always restlessness when a person loses their life trying to achieve their European dream” and that in the face of this drama of those who end up dying “on the last step” of their difficult journey, the institutions Basques and social entities have created in Euskadi “a system of orderly and solidary response to migratory phenomena”, “even beyond our areas of competence”, he adds.

Political messages

“They are not numbers, it is another person with names and surnames drowned in the Bidasoa. That events like this happen here should embarrass us. And the administrations that do not act so that these misfortunes do not occur should be ashamed. Doluminak gertukoei “has stated eh Bildu on his official Twitter account.

They are not numbers, it is another person with names and surnames drowned in the Bidasoa.

That events like this occur here should embarrass us. And the administrations that do not act so that these misfortunes do not occur should be ashamed.

¿¿Condolences to those close to you. pic.twitter.com/dhQv1vWGEH

– EH Bildu (@ehbildu) November 20, 2021

Together We Can-IU he has lamented the death of another migrant in the Bidasoa river and has called for safe transit routes and European policies that are up to the task “to avoid new tragedies.”

“We can not continue like this,” said in a statement the delegate of Social Welfare of the City of Irun, David Nuño, who has urged the institutions to take measures “to solve this drama that has already claimed too many lives.”