Click image to zoom

Evening and night shots of Idomeni camp during the winter 2016

Refugees and migrants try to warm themselves through fires in the makeshift camp in Idomeni, Greece February 2016. They use everything to sustain the fire, even plastics, creating a terrible and toxic atmosphere. Refugees are stranded in the borderline, as the illegal rail pass is closed. Since 2014, refugees from Syria, Iraq, but also from Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries of the Middle East, began to flock to Idomeni in order to cross the Greek borders and enter FYROM / Republic of Macedonia. Both the latter and Serbia to the north are out of the Schengen Area, which is why the refugees prefer this way to reach countries such as Germany and Sweden, so entering again the Schengen Area from Serbia; in case of arrest, they will be sent back to Croatia or Hungary (closer to their desired immigration destinations, especially Germany), and not to Greece, which is farther south. In 2015, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia decided to guard its borders by military forces in order to prevent the refugees from entering the country, as Serbia also closed its borders. Thus Idomeni became a vast camp, where many refugees entering Greece abide. The peak number of refugees who stayed in Idomeni numbered more than 15,000.[10] On the 24th of May 2016, Greek authorities began relocating refugees from the Idomeni camp to processing facilities mostly in and around Thessaloniki.

Photo ID	#1645069
Date Taken	25 February 2016
Location	N/A
Photographer	Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto
Category	Stock Photos
Copyright	© 2026 NurPhoto - Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto

Greece Greek Crisis Asylum Eidomeni Idomeni Thessaloniki Train rail pass cross border borders borderline fence camp fire makeshift tent tents January February night evening mobile phone family man men child children boy girl boys girls woman women muslim musulman fire campfire camp FYROM makedonia macedonia train rail village field open group camping UN UNHCR dry heat warm hot cold winter conditions bad suffer freeze freezing settlement camp fire pyre suffering arab arabian arabic europe eu european crisis human Syria Afghanistan Iraq Kurdishtan Kurdistan Palestine Kurdish Kurd Syrian Iraqi Afghani Pakistan Pakistani kurdistan humanitarian migration immigration migrants immigrants