Did refugees set Moria camp ablaze over COVID-19 quarantine? Greek minister thinks so!

A fire was reported on the tiny Greek island of Lesbos. The flames engulfed several houses but there were no reports of injuries.

However, the fire fighters who arrived at the scene were met with resistance and by dawn large plumes of smoke was seen rising from the island as local authorities announced that Europe's largest migrant camp was gutted in the blaze.

The Moria camp home to 12,500 refugees has now been reduced to ashes. The camp was once notorious for being the most overcrowded in Europe, however, all that remains now is debris and rubble.

At least 4,000 migrants have fled the smouldering camp for other cities. The Greek government has stepped in but it is prioritising young lives. It is relocating unaccompanied minors to other camps with some 170 minors being sent on a plane to Thessaloniki. The older and less fortunate migrants say they are going to sleep under the stars.

"Under the stars, I'm going to sleep under the stars like all these people here. Nowhere to go since everything burned, so we slept outside and we'll continue here. No organization, no Greek government agency has come here to help us a little," Leonie Raymon, refugee from Cameroon, said.

However, the question is what triggered the massive blaze. This question was asked to the Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi. His response has become a subject of debate.

"The real series of events is still being investigated. What is certain is that the fire was started, because of the quarantineby asylum seekers in the facility. I have no other comment to make," Notis Mitarachi, Greek migration minister, said.

Did the asylum seekers really burn down their own houses? Initial evidence suggests they did. The migrants were upset about the strict lockdown measures. They were isolated and locked inside after at least 35 people tested positive for COVID-19.

The Greek government says the fire was pre-planned so that the migrants could flee quarantine.

"From what we have gathered until now, the fires started as a result of the dissatisfaction of occupants of the Moria camp to the imposed isolation, after 36 coronavirus cases were found after 1,900 tests took place in the previous days. The fires started around the perimeter of the camp, and then were located inside the camp," Giorgos Koumoutsakos, deputy migration minister, said.

The fact is that the Moria camp had become a tinderbox. It was hosting migrants four times more than its maximum capacity. The government had promised to relocate them but could not. The asylum seekers may now have taken it upon themselves and are now walking thousands of miles searching for a new home as Europe braces itself for another migrant crisis.