Lesbos fire: Volunteers say ‘miracle’ no one was hurt in ‘disaster waiting to happen’

‘There is that same feeling of loneliness and helplessness again, that they are again on their own’

An Afghan asylum-seeking boy looks on as fires which started on Tuesday night continue to rage into Thursday morning inside of Moria camp (Getty)

Only a “miracle” prevented major casualties in the fire which destroyed Europe’s largest refugee camp and left thousands homeless, a volunteer worker on the Greek island of Lesbos has claimed.

The blaze at the Moria camp on Lesbos gutted much of the site, where 12,500 people were in makeshift accommodation. Among those living in the camp were 4,000 children.

Volunteers said the fire was “a disaster waiting to happen” and although there were no fatalities in the blaze, it had made life even more difficult for the refugees.

Many of the refugees had fled to the packed camp from warzones in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.

“It was a miracle that hardly anyone was injured, but the impact on their mental health, especially on the children, will be a catastrophe,” Dr Essam Daod, a volunteer psychiatrist working with international aid organisation Humanity Crew, told The Independent.

Dr Daod, said that roads to the camp were being blocked by both locals and police, and authorities have restricted access to the entire area around the site.

“No one is allowed to get close due to trucks blocking the roads and everything has been made more complicated because of Covid-19,” he said. 

“The authorities say it’s not because they don’t want to help but because of the pandemic – on one hand, I understand as a physician but on the other, it doesn’t mean you block aid and put people in the streets.”

According to UK-based NGO Help Refugees, at least 35 people living in the camps tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday. But those who are supposed to be in quarantine have not been in quarantine since the fires broke out and had run “like everyone else”, said Dr Daod.

“People on the site are in shock and are really scared,” added Freya Mergler, Greece field manager for Help Refugees. “They have very little understanding of what’s going on and very little information from the authorities.

“Our partners are being blocked, some were able to distribute food in some spots in the camp yesterday but today it’s a lot more restricted. It’s a massive, massive challenge, and Greece is very hot so it's really urgent the groups are able to respond.”

Médecins Sans Frontières confirmed its teams have been unable to access its clinic outside Moria, tweeting: “Locals blocking the road prevent us from accessing the people still inside the destroyed camp and our medical facility. It is urgent to provide medical care for those in need. Totally unacceptable!”

Mr Daod said the actions by locals – who are trying to stop the camp from being rebuilt and are halting refugees from trying to get to the capital of Lesbos, Mytilini – are a result of the EU countries turning their back on the refugee crisis.

“It was not always this way, back in 2015 and 2016, the locals were some of the most beautiful, generous people I had ever seen in my life.

“This is what the Greek authorities and the EU is doing, making people fight each other, taking the humanity out of the locals and making refugees unhuman, unseen,” he added.

“This fire is another traumatic experience and Covid-19 is making it harder because the most valuable resource for the refugees is the aid workers and they’ve lost it now, not many volunteers because of flight cuts.

“There is that same feeling of loneliness and helplessness again, that they are again on their own even though they made it here from Syria, Afghanistan and wherever else they’ve come from.  The impact on their mental health, especially on the children, will be a catastrophe.”

Ms Mergler told The Independent that around 400 unaccompanied minors in the camp have been evacuated, but more than 4,000 children are still among the thousands stranded on the island.

"The situation is devastating and the number of children is incredibly worrying,” she said. “We are calling on the Greek government to conduct immediate rapid testing of the newly displaced population in a safe environment with access to food, water and medical care.

"Following testing, people should immediately be evacuated from the island to appropriate safe locations.”

Stelios Petsas, a spokesperson for the Greek government, told reporters on Thursday: “Today we will undertake all necessary actions to house families and the vulnerable while food distribution continues.”

Authorities said they were sending 19,000 coronavirus test kits to Lesbos and a passenger ferry had docked at the island’s port of Mytilini to house families.

But Mr Daod said it was unclear how authorities or grassroots organisations were going to be able to distribute food and other forms of aid due to the restrictions placed around the area, which does not allow cars into the site.

“It is impossible to distribute anything without cars because it is such a huge area and nothing is clear,” he said. “There is no information on who will carry it out, so we just have to wait.”