Refugee influx continues to overwhelm Bulgaria’s facilities
Even with emergency opening of new facilities, accommodation for refugees in Bulgaria continues to overflow.
The Interior Ministry said on October 30 that its shelters and those of the State Agency for Refugees together had accommodation for up to 4000 people but this figure was exceeded by 714 people.
The ministry said that in the 24 hours up to 6am on October 30, 167 illegal migrants had been detained in the area near Bulgaria’s border with Turkey. Of these, 99 were Syrians, according to the ministry.
In a previous statement, the ministry said that over the past weekend – between 6am on Friday and 6am on Monday – a total of 472 illegal migrants had been held, of whom 343 were Syrians.
On October 30, Austria became the latest fellow EU member state to hand over a donation to assist the refugees. The donation, worth 70 000 euro, was handed over by Austrian ambassador in Sofia, Gerhard Reiweger.
Other efforts to assist the refugees are continuing, ranging from the Bulgarian Red Cross fundraising initiative to the Tulip Foundation/Webfactory gathering of toys for Syrian children.
At the political level, centre-right opposition party GERB says that it is continuing to consider basing its next motion of no confidence in the current Bulgarian Socialist Party on the administration’s handling of the refugee situation.
Photo: Ben Melrose/V Photo Agency
