Lesbos

Residents of Lesvos are alarmed over information that construction of a new hotspot on the Aegean island is under way. Video footage of ongoing construction work at the deserted military outpost of Lemonou, has raised concern among the local population.

The number of migrants and refugees stranded in Greece is estimated to be over 60,000, according to reports Tuesday.

A total of 143 individuals arrived on the Aegean island of Lesvos on Tuesday. Another 40 arrivals were recorded on Chios. The number of migrants and refugees on Greece's islands has reached 12,171.

The latest tally shows that 112 migrants and refugees arrived on the island of Chios in the last 24 hours while another 46 reached the coasts of Kos and 14 the island of Kastelorizo. No arrivals were recorded on Lesvos and Samos.

According to the refugee crisis coordinating body, 140 more refugees and migrants reached the shores of the islands of Chios and Lesvos in the past 24 hours. The conditions on the two islands are becoming increasingly unbearable as the the facilities on both are overcrowded.

Government officials on Tuesday determined which reception centers for migrants across the country are to close and where new, improved facilities are to open but did not determine a time-frame, even as authorities on the Aegean islands warn of dangerously cramped and tense conditions in local camps.

Greek photojournalist Aris Messinis of AFP was awarded the Visa d’Or News prize during the international festival of photojournalism in Perpignan in Southern France for his work on the massive arrival of refugees on the Greek island of Lesvos in 2015. ‘I recorded the struggle for a better life’, Messinis said after receiving the prize.

Mytilini airport data showed on Monday that last month was the worst August on record for Lesvos tourism.

The island that has been flooded with refugees and migrants in the last year received just 8,078 passengers on 58 charter flights.

Last year Lesvos had received 124 charter flights with 16,588 passengers.

A total of 84 migrants and refugees have arrived on Greece's Aegean islands in the past 48 hours, authorities said Monday.

Authorities said that 9,308 are currently sheltered on the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Samos.

Bucking the trend that has charter companies from Scandinavian countries canceling their flights to Lesvos for this summer due to the migration crisis, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia and the Danish travel agency Spies have persisted with the eastern Aegean island, starting their service for this summer season on Sunday, May 15.

Firemen on the island of Lesvos were battling a fire at a mattress storage area at the Morias hot spot, authorities said on Thursday. Initial reports suggested the blaze was caused by a short circuit.
  
There were no reports of injuries, authorities added.