Child dies in fire in Greek migrant camp
A young child died Monday in a fire in an overcrowded migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, fire department officials said.
The fire burned through two containers used as living quarters by people in the Moria camp, as well as some tents, a spokesperson said.
«During the operation, a dead little girl was found,» the fire department spokesperson told Reuters. The child was aged six or seven.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
Moria — built to accommodate roughly 3,000 people — has about 19,400 people in the camp and the surrounding area, living in crowded and filthy conditions.
More images emerge from the fire in <a href=»https://twitter.com/hashtag/Moria?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>#Moria</a> migrant camp <a href=»https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lesbos?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>#Lesbos</a> Footage obtained by local news portal <a href=»https://twitter.com/stonisigr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>@stonisigr</a> shows migrants trying to put the fire out on their own. Strong winds on the island today. <a href=»https://twitter.com/hashtag/greece?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>#greece</a> <a href=»https://twitter.com/hashtag/refugeesgr?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>#refugeesgr</a> <a href=»https://twitter.com/hashtag/breaking?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>#breaking</a> <a href=»https://twitter.com/hashtag/migrants?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>#migrants</a> <a href=»https://twitter.com/hashtag/lesvos?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>#lesvos</a> <a href=»https://twitter.com/hashtag/refugees?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw»>#refugees</a> <a href=»https://t.co/eGAhxKnCaw»>pic.twitter.com/eGAhxKnCaw</a>
—@KallergisK
Lesbos was on the front line of a massive movement of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015 and 2016.
There was an upsurge in arrivals after Turkey announced on Feb. 28 it could no longer contain the large numbers of migrants it hosts because of an anticipated surge of displaced persons from Syria.
