The majority of the thousands of migrants, panicked out of tents and containers overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, found themselves sitting by the side of the road linking the camp to the port of Mytilene.

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AFP

A ferry was dispatched Thursday to the island of Lesbos to accommodate migrants from the Moria camp, the largest and sordid refugee camp in Greece, devastated the day before by two fires which did not claim any victims but left thousands homeless people.

“Today, all the necessary actions will be taken to immediately shelter families and vulnerable people,” assured the Ministry of Migration.

"State of emergency" declared in Lesbos

Two ships of the Greek Navy are also due to go there to increase accommodation capacity, while the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, is expected for an inspection visit.

The Greek Civil Protection declared a "state of emergency" in Lesvos, an Aegean island with 85,000 inhabitants and the main gateway for migrants to Greece due to its proximity to Turkey.

The camp housed some 12,700 asylum seekers, four times its capacity, including 4,000 children.

The majority of the thousands of migrants, panicking out of tents and containers overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, found themselves sitting by the side of the road from the camp to the port of Mytilene, forming long queues of three kilometers. , noted an AFP journalist.

Some took refuge in the surrounding olive groves.

"We have lost everything"

"What are we going to do now?"

Where can we go?

», Asks Mahmout, originally from Afghanistan.

Beside him, his compatriot Aisha looks for his children: "Two of my children are there, but I do not know where the others are".

Cornille Ndama, Congolese, also fled Moria during the night.

“We have lost everything.

As you see me, I am left like this.

I have nothing, nothing with me and yet we do not know where we are going to sleep ”.

On Wednesday evening, a new fire broke out in a part of the camp which had been relatively untouched, causing the same scenes of chaos.

This "fire is more limited than that of Tuesday evening," said a firefighter official.

"No victim, neither injured, nor missing was reported", underlined the Greek Minister of Migration, Notis Mitarachi, who praised "the rapid intervention" of the firefighters and the police ", while specifying that at least 3,500 migrants were homeless.

EU 'ready to help' says Ursula von der Leyen

"We are taking emergency measures for these people: the most vulnerable, around 1,000, will be accommodated on a ferry", at the port of Mytilene, capital of the island, he also assured.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed “deep sadness”, stressing that the EU stood “ready to help”.

The European Commission has already announced that it is taking charge of the immediate transfer to mainland Greece of 400 children and adolescents.

Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, has called on EU countries to welcome migrants from the camp.

Several thousand people spontaneously demonstrated on Wednesday in several cities of this country to demand the authorities to take care of migrants.

I am deeply sorrowed by last night's events at the Moria refugees camp in Greece.

My College was informed this morning.

I have asked VP @MargSchinas to travel to Greece asap.

We stand ready to support, with Member States.

Our priority is the safety of those left without shelter.

- Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 9, 2020

"Violent reactions against health checks"

For Austria, "if we empty the Moria camp, it will fill up again immediately", argued Wednesday night its Foreign Minister, Alexander Schallenberg.

Vienna will, however, offer one million euros in aid, for example to buy "tents and blankets" in Greece, he added.

France said it was ready on Wednesday to "take its part in solidarity".

“The incidents in Moria erupted when asylum seekers protested against the quarantine,” Notis Mitarachi said, adding that “many outbreaks” broke out in the camp overnight.

Shortly before, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who expressed "his sadness", attributed the origin of the disaster to "violent reactions against health checks" carried out since last week after the detection of 35 cases of Covid-19 in the camp.

The first case of coronavirus was detected in Moria last week and the camp was immediately placed in solitary confinement for two weeks.

The main part of the center completely destroyed

The main part of the ID registration center was completely destroyed, according to Notis Mitarachi.

In addition to this main part of the camp housing nearly 4,000 people as well as administrative and asylum premises, the Moria camp extended into the neighboring olive groves, where nearly 8,000 people lived in tents, which also suffered extensive damage. .

NGOs are worried about the situation.

"Many people are scattered in places on the island" where NGOs cannot access, explains Giovanna Scaccabarozzi, an employee of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Lesbos, who says she feels "distress and despair".

In recent years, the Moria camp has been 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.

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