UN calls for migrant camp transfer after deadly Greek fire

MORIA - The UN and the mayor of Lesbos on Monday called for the immediate transfer of migrants from an overcrowded Greek refugee camp on the island after a deadly fire at the camp there sparked riots.

Camp residents say a woman and child died in Sunday's blaze at Moria, Europe's largest migrant camp, which houses around 13,000 people but has facilities for just 3,000.

The civil protection ministry on Monday confirmed the death of one person and said they were carrying out tests on the remains of a possible second victim. Late Sunday, Greek news agency ANA had cited police sources as saying a mother and child had died.

A plane helped extinguish the fire that had spread to several containers housing migrants. But police later fired tear gas to control an angry crowd who said authorities took too long to respond to the incident.

The UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) on Monday warned the situation at Moria was "critical" and required "urgent" action.

"We are calling to accelerate the transfers and improve conditions in Moria," said Boris Cheshirkov, UNHCR's spokesman in Greece.

Lesbos mayor Stratos Kytelis also called for the "immediate decongestion of our islands and for borders to be guarded".

The camp has become like a small town with UN refugee agency tents for around 8,000 people sprawling into the olive fields of nearby Moria village. Others are housed in containers.

The situation was calm on Monday but there was still a strong police presence, the UNHCR and migrants said.

More transfers to mainland 

"Lot of police came today, they are checking the papers of everyone, they are checking inside the containers... All this, stresses us even more," said Farid, a young Afghan who did not give his last name.

"Many refugees are so sad, they are stressed, they fear an accident can happen again."

Police said the riots occurred on Sunday evening after two separate fires broke out 20 minutes apart, firstly outside and then inside the Moria camp.

Additional officers were sent from Athens in C-130 army planes in a bid to contain the situation, with calm restored to the camp by 2300 GMT.

One correspondent saw two bodies, one surrounded by weeping family members.

However, an Afghan eyewitness said three people had been killed as a result of the fire.

"We found two children completely charred and a woman dead. We gave the children covered in blankets to the fire brigade," Fedouz, 15, said on Sunday.

Some 247 migrant were to be transferred from Lesbos to the Greek mainland on Monday, the UNHCR said.

The Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Lefteris Economou, along with the Chief of Police and the Secretary General for Migration Policy, were due to visit Moria on Monday.

New asylum law 

Greece hosts some 70,000 mostly Syrian refugees and migrants who have fled their countries since 2015, crossing over from neighbouring Turkey.

Under an agreement reached with the European Union in 2016, Turkey has made greater efforts to limit departures towards the five Greek islands closest to its shores.

But the number of arrivals has been steadily climbing in recent months causing a dangerous burden in the camps of the islands that are in the forefront of the migrant influx.

The Greek government said on Sunday it planned to discuss a new asylum draft law to deal with the fresh migrant crisis.

Minister of State George Gerapetritis stressed Sunday that migrants should be sent to camps with humane conditions, admitting that existing ones were not able to deal with the increase in migrants.

On Friday, Citizen's Protection Minister, Michalis Chrysochoidis, asked for the cooperation of regional governors, during an emergency meeting, in order to share the migrant burden of the overcrowded islands.

He called on regional authorities of mainland Greece to expand existing camps or to revive some closed ones.