(9 Sep 2020) Drone footage showed plumes of smoking rising from Greece's largest refugee camp, after a major overnight fire left more than 12,000 migrants in emergency need of shelter on the island of Lesbos.
In dramatic night-time scenes, the migrants at the overcrowded Moria refugee camp, which was originally meant to house around 2,000 people, fled fires that broke out at multiple points and gutted much of the camp and surrounding hillside olive groves
Protests also broke out involving migrants, riot police, and firefighters. There were no reports of injuries.
“It has been a very difficult night,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said, adding that a state of emergency was being declared on the island. He said all possible causes, including that of arson, were being examined.
Petsas said those who had been living in Moria would not be allowed to leave the island to prevent the potential spread of the coronavirus.
The camp had been placed on lockdown after a Somali man was found to have been infected with the virus.
A major testing drive was ordered in the camp, and 35 people who had tested positive had been quarantined in a separate facility that was not affected by the fire, officials said.
The fires broke out overnight, police and fire officials on the island told The Associated Press, adding the cause of the blazes, as well as the full extent of the damage, remained unclear.
They did not confirm local reports that the fires had been set deliberately in protest at the lockdown measures but said firefighters had “met resistance” from some camp residents.
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