An Egyptian national who crossed into Lithuania from Belarus was admitted to a hospital, where his leg was amputated on Thursday due to frostbite and prolonged exposure to wet conditions, according to Red Cross.
“Two Egyptians are currently in hospital. One man is in a very difficult situation, he is in great shock. The doctors told him that part of his leg had to be removed, and he was very resistant, he did not want to do it,” Luka Lesauskaitė, the Red Cross spokesperson, told LRT.lt.
The Egyptian man is currently undergoing treatment at Švenčionys Hospital. Red Cross also assigned a psychologist to him.
“Obviously, his feet were in wet conditions for too long and froze,” Lesauskaitė said, adding that this was the reason for amputation.
This is the third similar case in Lithuania this year. Earlier in November, two young migrants from Sri Lanka had to have their legs amputated because of frostbite. One of them lost both legs.
Asked if there were other migrants in serious condition at the Lithuanian border, Lesauskaitė said she had no such information. Red Cross receives information on migrants with health problems if they apply for asylum, she added.
No obvious frostbite
According to the State Border Guard Service (VSAT), the Egyptian man was detained at the Lithuanian border almost three weeks ago and tried to escape once. He is now being guarded by officers.
Giedrius Mišutis, the VSAT spokesperson, said that the migrant’s condition was not obvious from the start. On November 20, a group of eight Egyptian and three Uzbek migrants was detained in the Varėna district, and a pre-trial investigation into people smuggling was opened. The Egyptian nationals were accommodated at the Druskininkai checkpoint while the investigation is ongoing.
“Neither during their detention nor when they were brought to the checkpoint did they complain [...]. Then, one of them started complaining that his leg hurt,” Mišutis said, adding that it was not the case of obvious frostbite.
According to the VSAT spokesperson, medical assistance has been provided to the Egyptians since the first day of their arrival.
The asylum applications of five Egyptian nationals are currently being processed, while the other three have been returned to Belarus, Mišutis said.
In his words, the Egyptian nationals were not subject to Lithuania’s policy of pushing back migrants back into Belarus but were detained upon their first arrival.
“The important detail is that they are here for the first time. There was no pushback. They came, they were detained, and at the first sign, medics were called,” Mišutis said about the Egyptian’s injury.
According to him, the border guards have recently purchased more warm clothes that are distributed to migrants at all border checkpoints when needed.
Previously, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė said that Belarus is forcing migrants to travel to Lithuania barefoot to put pressure on the border guards to not push them back.
“[But] the fact that people arrive at the border barefoot will not be a reason to let them in,” she said.
Read more: Migrants lose limbs to cold. Lithuania claims they arrive barefoot to gain entry
According to VSAT, between July and December, migrants were taken to hospitals 30 times, and medics were called 40 times before foreigners were turned back to Belarus.
“No one is turning them back if their shoes are wet, if they don’t have hats, or if it is minus 5 degrees outside. Border guards also take migrants to support points,” Mišutis said.
Since Lithuania adopted the pushback policy last year, migrants channelled by Belarus toward Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland have been stuck between the borders. Several have died in Poland and Belarus, although no deaths have been recorded in Latvia and Lithuania.
Baltic and EU officials accuse Minsk of orchestrating the crisis in response to sanctions, which were placed against the Minsk regime in the wake of its crackdown on the opposition.
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