Ministry denies refugee child died because of cold weather

As dropping temperatures create more misery for migrants at reception centers around the country, the Migration Ministry sought to play down the repercussions of deteriorating living conditions over the weekend, rebuffing reports that a child had died of the cold.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry denied a report by Skai according to which a child refugee had died of the cold at a reception center in Diavata, near Thessaloniki.

At the end of last week, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said that thousands of refugees and migrants will be relocated indoors from tent camps in Greece as temperatures drop.

Gale-force winds tore down dozens of tents and left some 200 migrants in the mud last week on the island of Chios where dozens of shelters were destroyed in a combination of firebomb attacks and riots last month.