MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th September, 2020) The blaze in the largest migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos left its residents not only without shelter but also without medical aid, pushing thousands of them to flee and disperse in nearby areas, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) field coordinator in Lesbos told Sputnik.
A huge blaze destroyed the overcrowded Moria facility in the early hours of Wednesday, leaving some 12,000 migrants without shelter. MSF reported on Thursday morning that its teams were unable to access its clinic in Moria, as locals blocked the road, preventing them from reaching out to people still inside the destroyed camp and the medical facility.
"The fire forced to interrupt all the medical services available for the refugee population, including the MSF pediatric clinic. Luckily, the clinic has not been burnt, our teams have spent the night trying to protect the clinic from the fire. Nonetheless, our services have been temporarily interrupted and we are working to resume as soon as possible," Marco Sandrone told Sputnik.
Sandrone specified that the fire left no fatalities, but rendered camp residents homeless.
"The fire forced about 12,000 men, women, and children to evacuate [from] the site with no alternative place to stay ... All people have moved towards Mytilini town but have been blocked just beyond the Kara Tepe camp. Those people are now in the street with nowhere to go and many are starting to hide in the hills and disperse," he said.
According to the MSF coordinator, evacuation of migrants to a safe place must now be a priority for local authorities, as the camp was burnt down "almost entirely."
