Lesbos: Fire at the Moria refugee center. In the camp, over 12 thousand. people

Migration crisis in Europe

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On Wednesday, September 9, a fire broke out in the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, firefighters said. The refugees were evacuated.

According to the official, the fire broke out, for reasons not yet known, both inside and outside the camp, where more than 12,700 asylum-seeking migrants were detained.

People were forced to flee the flames with the things they had managed to take.

About 28 firefighters and 9 firefighting vehicles supported by volunteers fight the fire.

Four times as many people as its official capacity were in the Moria camp, the largest in Europe today. The conditions in the camp were poor and he was often criticized by aid organizations for this reason.

Last week, the camp was put into quarantine after a test of one of the migrants revealed that he was infected with the coronavirus. Since then, 35 cases of infections have been detected.

The spread of the virus was facilitated by poor hygiene and the overcrowding of the camp, which made it impossible to maintain a social distance.

The island of Lesbos, which is located a short distance from the Turkish coast, was in the front line in 2015-2016 during the massive influx of migrants to Europe.

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