Greek govt: second fire at refugee camp was arson

The Greek government said Thursday a second fire which destroyed nearly everything in Greece's overcrowded Moria refugee camp was started deliberately and has left the vast majority of the camp's residents homeless.

"Some people do not respect the country that is hosting them, and they strive to prove they are not looking for a passport to a better life," spokesman Stelios Petsas told reporters in Athens.

He said those who started the fires "did this because they considered that if they torch Moria, they will indiscriminately leave the island".

But Petsas said the only Moria residents who would be allowed to leave Lesbos were the 406 unaccompanied children and teenagers who had already been flown to northern Greece overnight.

New, small fires also sprang up in the remains of tents set up outside the camp, fanned by strong winds Thursday morning.

Authorities say both major fires in the camp on the island of Lesbos were deliberately started, with the first on Tuesday evening set by residents angered by quarantine measures imposed to contain a COVID-19 outbreak after 35 people tested positive.

That blaze had left about 3,500 of the more than 12,500 people living in and around Moria homeless, and authorities flew in tents and were providing a ferry and two navy ships as emergency temporary housing.

But new fires sprang up in the undamaged parts of the camp Wednesday evening, destroying the greater part of what was left and sending thousands of people streaming out of the facility.

Apart from the main camp, Moria also consisted of a sprawling tent city that had sprung up in olive groves outside the main perimeter fence due to overcrowding.

Much of that was burned beyond repair by Thursday morning, with just the blackened frames of tents remaining among charred olive tree trunks.