A 66-year-old woman and her 6-year-old grandchild were killed after a portable cooking gas stove explosion inside a tent set a part of the Moria refugee camp on fire on Lesvos island in Greece late on Thursday.
Local media on the island have reported that the 30-year-old mother of the child and her other 4-year-old child wrere seriously injured and were transferred to Athens by an army C-27 aircraft. Eight more refugees were injured by the explosion.
Following the fire, riot police arrived at the scene as violence erupted between refugees and police. A rumor that the explosion was caused by a bomb angered the migrants – most of them Africans – who attacked police with rocks and sticks, local media reported.
The camp was evacuated with refugees trying to find a place to spend the night. The fire was put out around 3:00 am, but the refugees were already scattered in the surrounding areas and slept in the open.
Volunteer organizations are urging the Greek government to take better care of the thousands of refugees and migrants stranded on Lesvos, staying in overcrowded refugee camps under very harsh conditions.
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