At least one ship of the Greek Navy is to be dispatched to the island of Lesvos to help provide accommodation to refugees and migrants at the hot spot of Moria amid freezing temperatures and heavy snow falls. The ship is reportedly “fully equipped to receive any camp residents that lack adequate protection against the cold weather front” and have to spend the cold days and nights in summer tents without any further protection.
Citing sources, Athens News Agency reports that chosen ship “was the Jason Class Landing Ship (Tank) “Lesvos” that will set sail from Salamina naval station on Tuesday night. The ship is being loaded with equipment to house 500 refugees and migrants, including beds, stoves and mattresses.”
The ship is expected to arrive in Lesvos early on Wednesday afternoon, depending on the weather.
ANT1 TV reported that a second ship, the “Rhodes” might be stand by.
The ship dispatch followed a communication between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Defence Minister Panos Kammenos and Migration Policy Minister Yiannis Mouzalas.
Video: The footage has been captured on January 7, 2017 by an anonymous refugee, as a desperate message to the world about the appalling conditions provided by the UNHCR, that in turn contradict the ridiculously false statement of Greek Migration Minister, Yiannis Mouzalas, on January 5, 2017 that “there are no refugees or migrants living in the cold anymore. We successfully completed the procedures for overwintering, with the exception of 40 tents left in Vyiohori and another 100 in Athens”.
Notice on YouTube says: The footage has been captured on January 7, 2017 by an anonymous refugee, as a desperate message to the world about the appalling conditions provided by the UNHCR, that in turn contradict the ridiculously false statement of Greek Migration Minister, Yiannis Mouzalas, on January 5, 2017 that “there are no refugees or migrants living in the cold anymore. We successfully completed the procedures for overwintering, with the exception of 40 tents left in Vyiohori and another 100 in Athens”.
After the media outcry about the inhuman situation of the refugees and migrants in the hot spot of Moria, Migration Minister Mouzalas left Tuesday morning for Lesvos. He wanted to see first hand the tents covered with snow and the freezing people.
However, the airplane returned to Athens as it could not land due to the bad weather conditions. The Minister took a second attempt to reach Lesvos with a helicopter at noon. However, also this attempt failed due to weather.
Refugees and migrants are not freezing only on the island of Lesvos. In neighboring Chios, they stranded people launched a stones war to protest the living conditions.
In the old airport of Elliniko in the south of Athens, several dozens of tents exposed to snow and north wind host refugees and migrants. These might be the “100 tents in Athens” Mouzalas talked about.
Video: filmed by a drone for VimaOnline.gr and posted on YouTube on Jan 10 after the long icy cold snowy nigh with temperate down to -5 C.
The unofficial accommodation camp of Elliniko is the “Moria” of Athens that should not have been there at all. A few hundred people were transferred there from the port of Piraeus in summer. The camp was supposed to close in autumn and people relocated. They are still there.
PS the government could send a third ship for the refugees at Elliniko, which is right next to the sea, anyway.
