Authorities on the Greek island of Samos have urged a quicker transfer of refugees and migrants off the island. Reception centers are currently holding thousands more people than they were built for.
Local municipal authorities on the Greek island of Samos have called for the immediate transfer of refugees and migrants from reception centers on the eastern Aegean island to the mainland as they struggle to cope with mass overcrowding.
Reception centers for hundreds holding thousands
Samos, the closest island to the Turkish coast, was hosting over 4,000 as of September 3, according to the latest figures released. Of these, some 3,817 are crammed into the Vathi reception centre, built to hold a capacity of just 648 people.
Samos mayor Michalis Angelopoulos has now called on the government to make good on promises to speed up transfers from island camps and announced an online petition demanding that the process start immediately. "Together, we can and must be able to give a real solution to a problem for which we have no responsibility, but in an unfair way, we have suffered and continue to suffer from all its consequences," said Angelopoulos in a media statement.
Last week the United Nations refugee agency called on Greek authorities to speed up the transfer of eligible asylum-seekers to the mainland, as the situation has reached a boiling point.
Camp workers resign in mass due to conditions
In recent days it was reported that doctors and nurses are resigning from their positions at the Vathi camp in droves, citing poor working conditions at the camp. Several representatives from the Integrated Emergency Health Intervention for the Refugee Crisis (PHILOs) program have quit in recent weeks as the situation threatens to spiral out of control. One of the leading doctors, Manos Logothetis, commented on local radio Harmony FM that "there are no words to describe the conditions we are working in. Many of the medical staff prefer to be unemployed that work here."
Angelopoulos' plea comes after a similar call to action from Lesvos mayor Spyros Galinos, who once again called on Greece's Migration Policy Minister Dimitrios Vitsas to fulfill promises to reduce migrant numbers on the North Eastern Aegean islands to 10,000 by September.
The region is currently flooded with close to 20,000 refugees and migrants, with Lesvos alone hosting over 10,000. Vitsas had said earlier this summer that the state would speed up relocation efforts and ensure that the number of migrants staying at overcrowded camps on Lesvos, Chios and Samos combined would be cut to 10,000 by September. That now looks like an empty promise from the government as the situation continues to get worse.
Smugglers abandon 60 Iraqis
In related developments, Greek authorities on the mainland rescued 60 Iraqi migrants, including 27 children, who were found walking along a major highway. Police said that a smuggling truck had dumped the group far away from their intended destination after the migrants, who had illegally entered Greece through the land border with Turkey, were found around 15 kilometers west of the northern city of Thessaloniki. It is thought that the smugglers decided to dump the migrants in order to avoid police checkpoints in the area.