Moria migrant camp 99% destroyed.

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Panagiotis Balaskas / AP / SIPA

A large-scale rescue operation is underway in the iconic and overcrowded migrant and migrant camp of Moria, on the Greek island of Lesvos, where several fires broke out in the early hours of Wednesday, according to Greek firefighters. .

According to the emergency services, "scattered fires in the meadow around the camp but also inside the structure" mobilized 25 firefighters and 10 vehicles to evacuate the most sordid camp in Europe, which currently hosts nearly 12,700 asylum seekers, four times its reception capacity.

The firefighters specify that for the moment "there are no victims, but a few minor injuries with respiratory problems due to the smoke".

According to a photographer on site, "almost the entire camp is on fire, both inside and the tents outside in the olive grove".

"Asylum seekers are fleeing the camp on foot in the direction of the port of Mytilene but are blocked by the vehicles of the police," he adds.

99% of camp burned

Nearly 500 migrants are on the road to the port of Mytilene blocked by the police, and others have taken shelter in the hills surrounding the camp.

According to the president of the Lesbos firefighters' union, interviewed Wednesday morning, Yorgos Ntinos, the camp "99% burned and the fire continues".

Stand by Me Lesvos, an association bringing together locals and refugees, is alarmed on Twitter: “Everything is burning, people are fleeing”.

"Some testimonies report that locals are blocking the passage (of refugees) in the neighboring village", also adds the association.

According to the Greek news agency ANA, the fires would have been started following the revolt of certain asylum seekers who were to be placed in isolation, having tested positive for the coronavirus or close to a person having was detected positive.

The emergency services also report in their press release that they were "prevented from entering the camp to intervene" by certain groups of refugees upon their arrival in the camp, and that they called on the police to continue the operation. safety.

A camp long decried

Last week, authorities detected a first case of coronavirus in Moria camp and quarantined the camp for two weeks.

After carrying out 2,000 screening tests, 35 people were detected positive for Covid-19 in Moria.

"The 35 people positive for the coronavirus were transported to a space provided for their isolation," said the Greek Ministry of Migration.

With the fire, "everyone has dispersed and the positive cases have mingled with others now", worries a police source in Lesbos on Wednesday morning.

The Moria camp has in recent years been repeatedly criticized for its lack of hygiene and its overcrowding by NGOs who regularly call on the Greek authorities to transfer the most vulnerable asylum seekers to the mainland.

Riots and fights have become almost daily in the Moria camp.

From January to the end of August, five people were stabbed in more than 15 attacks.

Last March, a girl was killed in a burnt container.

In September 2019, two people also died in a fire.

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