Fire Destroys Most of Europe’s Largest Refugee Camp on Greek Island of Lesbos
Athens, Greece
A fast-moving fire destroyed most of Europe’s largest refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, leaving most of its 12,000 residents homeless just days after they were collectively quarantined because of a coronavirus outbreak there.
No deaths were initially reported. But vast stretches of the overcrowded camp and an adjacent spillover site were destroyed in the fire that began late on Tuesday night, leaving only a medical facility and small clusters of tents untouched.
By Wednesday, the blaze had already begun to prompt widespread soul-searching across Europe, where the Moria camp, and the neglect of its residents, has become synonymous with the continent’s increasingly unsympathetic approach to refugees.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission, said she felt “deep sorrow” about the fire, while the governor of a region in western Germany, Armin Laschet, said he was willing to admit up to 1,000 refugees from the camp as part of a wider European resettlement program that has yet to be developed.
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