Skip links

Skip to Content
play

Live

Navigation menu

  • News
    • Middle East
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • US & Canada
    • Latin America
    • Europe
    • Asia Pacific
  • Ukraine war
  • Features
  • Economy
  • Opinion
  • Video
    • Coronavirus
    • Climate Crisis
    • Investigations
    • Interactives
    • In Pictures
    • Science & Technology
    • Sports
    • Podcasts
play

Live

In Pictures

Gallery|Refugees

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 fire burns in the Moria refugee camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. Fire Service officials say a large refugee camp on t
Refugees and migrants run as fires blaze in the Moria refugee camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Published On 9 Sep 20209 Sep 2020
facebooktwitterwhatsapp

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.

A migrant walks among destroyed shelters following a fire at the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Elias Marcou
Refugees walk among destroyed shelters following a fire at the Moria camp. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
Advertisement
Migrants gather outside an abandoned building during a fire in the Moria refugee camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. Thousands of migrants fled a cam
Thousands fled the camp, which was under a COVID-19 lockdown. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Fire burns in the Moria refugee camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. Thousands of migrants fled a camp under COVID-19 lockdown after multiple fires gu
Multiple fires gutted much of the site on the Greek island. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Refugees and migrants with their children gather on a bridge as fire burns at the Moria refugee camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. Fire Service offi
Refugees with their children gather on a bridge as the fire burns. [Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo]
Refugees and migrants carry their belongings as they flee from a fire burning at the Moria camp, on the island of Lesbos, Greece, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Elias Marcou
Refugees carry their belongings as they flee the devastating blaze. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
A migrant carries her belongings following a fire at the Moria camp for refugees and migrants on the island of Lesbos, Greece, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Elias Marcou
The camp was home to some 13,000 people - more than four times its stated capacity. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
Advertisement
A family sleeps at a parking space, following a fire at the Moria camp for refugees and migrants on the island of Lesbos, Greece, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Elias Marcou
A family sleeps in a parking space, following the fire. [Elias Marcou/Reuters]
A woman and a girl cover their faces following a fire at the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Elias Marcou
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]
Refugees and migrants carry their belongings as they flee from a fire burning at the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Elias Marcou TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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]


    • About Us
    • Code of Ethics
    • Terms and Conditions
    • EU/EEA Regulatory Notice
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Cookie Preferences
    • Sitemap
    • Community Guidelines
    • Work for us
    • HR Quality
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with us
    • Apps
    • Channel Finder
    • TV Schedule
    • Podcasts
    • Submit a Tip
    • Al Jazeera Arabic
    • Al Jazeera English
    • Al Jazeera Investigative Unit
    • Al Jazeera Mubasher
    • Al Jazeera Documentary
    • Al Jazeera Balkans
    • AJ+
    • Al Jazeera Centre for Studies
    • Al Jazeera Media Institute
    • Learn Arabic
    • Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights
    • Al Jazeera Forum
    • Al Jazeera Hotel Partners

Follow Al Jazeera English:

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • youtube
  • instagram-colored-outline
  • rss
Al Jazeera Media Network logo
© 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network