Immigrants pick up the pieces after Tent City fire

An intimidating muscular man with dark skin towered over most of his friends to speak but his large black eyes soon began to well up.

"I don't know what to do now... I lost everything in the fire," he said, breaking down in tears.

Abdul Mugiblawali, 27, pointed to his dirty T-shirt and said: "This is all I have to wear and it isn't even mine. A friend gave it to me".

Mr Mugiblawali stood in line, along with about 100 other immigrants who lost their belongings in Sunday's fire, outside the administration offices of the Ħal Far open centre yesterday to register his losses and receive temporary documentation.

The fire gutted five tents, leaving just the blackened frames of bunk beds but no one was hurt in the incident.

Preliminary investigations show that the blaze broke out when a resident was cooking dinner inside one of the tents and a nearby bed caught fire. Within seconds the flames spread to a gas cylinder, which exploded.

Despite prompt action to put it out, the fire continued to spread to other tents and a second gas cylinder exploded leading to further destruction.

Within a few minutes the fire engulfed and destroyed five tents while airborne cinders burned holes in the others close by.

"The important thing is that no one got hurt. It was also good to see the residents helping to put out the fire," Mike Quinn, the open centre coordinator said.

"Everyone was rushing to get their belongings from the tents so that they wouldn't be destroyed," one of the residents said.

Although the open centre's administration had planned to set up new tents by yesterday morning, this had to be postponed until forensic investigations were concluded to establish what happened.

Unfortunately, the forensic experts were yesterday caught up with other business in court, so the complex process of clearing the area and setting up new tents was delayed. Those who were living in the tents destroyed by the fire were relocated to other tents and given sleeping bags. Since most of the tents were full, many had to sleep on the ground.

Mr Quinn said that the tents should be replaced within four or five days. Each cost about €1,750 and generally needs to be replaced every nine months as they were damaged by the weather.

Tent City was set up in 2006 and was meant to be a "semi-permanent" solution to house the immigrants reaching Malta's shores. But more than two years later the tents almost doubled and nothing has been said about creating a permanent solution that would be more cost-effective in the long run.

Mr Quinn hoped the authorities could set up residents' cooking facilities outside the tents to reduce the fire hazard. He explained that since the tents tended to be bone-dry in summer, a small flame could cause severe damage.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs said preparations to set up common cooking facilities in the administration block were at an advanced stage and should be finalised by the end of the year.

Several residents who spoke to The Times yesterday complained about having lost money and documents in the blaze.

Rasek Sala, a 27-year-old from Niger, said he had lost money, clothes, toiletries, shoes, his ID card and other documents.

Some said the cash they lost ranged from €75 to €900 and, consequently, they did not have enough money for food.

However, this only affected a small number as a volunteer at the open centre explained that most of the immigrants kept their money in bank accounts and their important belongings in the lockers, which were made available to them.

"It doesn't make sense for them to leave lots of cash in the tents because it can easily be stolen, so it is only the negligent ones that would have lost large amounts of money. The problem is that many lost all their clothes and documents," he said.

The immigrants at the open centre are registered as having refugee or humanitarian status, meaning they are not in detention and can leave at any time, seek employment and integrate into society.

They are given an allowance every month, a bunk bed, a sleeping bag and a locker. For everything else, they fend for themselves by getting a job.

Therefore, those who lost important belongings in the flames must dust off the ashes and start afresh while relying on donations from volunteers and friends.