In the last few days, a video has caused a lot of discussion - are the photos of arriving refugees on Lesbos posed?
Many people believe that a video of a woman on the beach was staged
However, photographers travel the coast every day to take photos.
Numerous other photos and recordings underline that it was a real rescue operation
At least that's the impression you get at first glance when you see the short cell phone video, which is only nine seconds long and shows a woman kneeling on the beach crying:
Around her you can see several photographers taking pictures of her and other refugees. Apparently staged photos, the video is the leak from an observer, it is concluded. Confirmation follows quickly, as the woman's photos also appear in the media and are commented on mockingly:
3000€ Philipp Plein jacket. These poor Africans. pic.twitter.com/OciiAUdwos
— Brockn (@BrocknPrime) March 2, 2020
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Where is the video from?
This is not a secretly made recording intended to expose an alleged scandal, but rather a snapshot taken by journalist Liana Spyropulou, who published the recording herself on Twitter.
#Lesbos earlier today. More boats full of #Refugees are expected to reach the East Aegean islands the next hours from #Turkey since the winds are calming down.
One question to #Greece 's gov: where are you going to host the new arrivals? In the overcrowded #Moria camp? pic.twitter.com/QlpcFeBipI— Liana Spyropoulou (@LSpyropoulou) February 29, 2020
How were the pictures created?
The colleagues from “ Correctiv ” contacted the journalist directly to ask her about the situation. She explained that the photos and video were taken when she and her colleagues got up at half past six, like every morning, and drove along the coast in skala, where experience shows that most refugee boats arrive.
There the photographers then observe the sea with large camera lenses in order to be there in time when the refugees come ashore to take photos - because this is their job.
The other pictures of the rescue
As already written above, the photographers were on site early in order to be able to take appropriate pictures, so there is a lot more material than just the beach scene; It was already filmed and photographed when the boat with the refugees was still far away in stormy seas.
Daily Mail , among others , published video footage of the arrival, which colleague André Reinsdorf took a closer look at.
Picture gallery for the recordings (8 pictures):
Update March 10, 2020
The Bundeswehr has confirmed to us that the ship is a German frigate:
“ Thank you very much for your inquiry and your interest in the Bundeswehr’s maritime operations.
With regard to your question, I can confirm that the pictures are of the frigate “Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania”.
We informed the public about this rescue operation via Twitter on February 29, 2020.”
Here is the corresponding tweet about the rescue operation:
This morning the crew of the #Bundeswehr a boat with people in distress north of the island of Lesbos. They were handed over to the Greek authorities and FRONTEX. For use in the Aegean https://t.co/qwZynrZr2M pic.twitter.com/PxXs9SF4up
— Bundeswehr in action (@Bw_Einsatz) February 29, 2020
can be seen as a teaser for a “Time” article on Facebook

The rescuers to the west are from Lighthouse Relief , who are stationed in the north of Lesbos.
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Conclusion
The nine-second recording does not leak a staged scene on the beach, but shows a snapshot of an actual rescue, for which many photojournalists came, which is underlined by the numerous other images and recordings of the rescue operation.
Article image: Screenshot / Video / Liana Spyropoulou
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )









