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In Pictures: Huge fire reduces Moria refugee camp to embers

More than 13,000 people in desperate need of emergency shelter after blaze hits notoriously overcrowded Greek camp.

Refugees and migrants run as fires blaze in the Moria refugee camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Refugees and migrants run as fires blaze in the Moria refugee camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
9 Sep 2020
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Thousands of refugees and migrants fled the flames that tore through a camp under a coronavirus lockdown, on Greece’s island of Lesbos.

The fire broke out at the overcrowded Moira camp just after midnight Tuesday, fire brigade officials said.

By early Wednesday morning, most of Moria had been reduced to a smouldering, mangled mass of burned shelters, with a few people searching the debris for their possessions.

There were no reports of injuries or fatalities, while the cause of the blaze which burned the tents and containers refugees had been living in was not immediately clear.

Moria was “probably totally destroyed”, Migration Ministry official Manos Logothetis told the state-run Athens News Agency.

Initial reports suggested fires broke out at different locations in the sprawling camp after authorities tried to isolate a number of individuals who tested positive for COVID-19.

“The fire is still raging, the camp has been evacuated. All these people are on the national road towards Mytilini. There are police out who are not letting them through. These people are sleeping left and right in the fields,” Panagiotis Deligiannis, a witness from Moria, told Reuters news agency.

At least 25 firefighters on 10 engines, aided by police, battled the flames both inside and outside the facility, the fire brigade said, adding that the firefighters had been pushed back by camp residents during their efforts.

People were seen leaving the camp, carrying their belongings.

“The situation was out of control,” policeman Argyris Syvris told Open TV, adding that police had been forced to release about 200 people held in a separate quarter of the camp who were to be repatriated to their countries.

The Moria facility, which hosts some 13,000 people – more than four times its stated capacity – has been frequently criticised by aid groups for poor living conditions.

It was placed under quarantine last week after authorities confirmed that an asylum seeker had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Confirmed infections have risen to 35 since then.

Lesbos, which lies just off the Turkish coast, was on the front line of a massive movement of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015 and 2016. Due to the pandemic, since March 1, all arrivals to the island have been quarantined away from the camps.

In the Moria camp, aid groups have warned that physical distancing and basic hygiene measures are impossible to implement due to the living conditions.

Refugees walk among destroyed shelters following a fire at the Moria camp. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
Refugees walk among destroyed shelters following a fire at the Moria camp. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
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Thousands fled the camp, which was under a COVID-19 lockdown. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Thousands fled the camp, which was under a COVID-19 lockdown. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Multiple fires gutted much of the site on the Greek island. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Multiple fires gutted much of the site on the Greek island. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Refugees with their children gather on a bridge as the fire burns. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Refugees with their children gather on a bridge as the fire burns. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Refugees carry their belongings as they flee the devastating blaze. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
Refugees carry their belongings as they flee the devastating blaze. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
The camp was home to some 13,000 people - more than four times its stated capacity.  [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
The camp was home to some 13,000 people - more than four times its stated capacity. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
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A family sleeps in a parking space, following the fire. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
A family sleeps in a parking space, following the fire. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
Greek media said the fires started after a revolt by people who were to be placed in isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
Greek media said the fires started after a revolt by people who were to be placed in isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
Almost the entire camp, the largest in Greece, was on fire, with the flames reaching an olive grove outside the walls of the main compound where many people sleep in tents. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
Almost the entire camp, the largest in Greece, was on fire, with the flames reaching an olive grove outside the walls of the main compound where many people sleep in tents. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]

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