When an overnight blaze swept through Greece’s biggest refugee camp on the Mediterranean island of Lesbos, AP was quicker and better than the competition in getting the story, producing cross-format coverage that stood out, even as much of the world media flocked to the chaotic scene.
Derek Gatopoulos, AP’s veteran text reporter based in Athens, launched the coverage after spotting Twitter posts about the fire in the middle of the night. Realizing the situation was serious, he woke colleagues in other formats and wrote at quick story that moved just after 3 a.m. in Greece, about 20 minutes ahead of the competition.
Refugees and migrants run as the first of two fires burns in the Moria refugee camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, early on Sept. 9, 2020.
AP Photo / Panagiotis Balaskas
Migrants evacuate the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, on the evening of Sept. 9, 2020, as a second fire struck the notoriously overcrowded camp, leaving some 12,000 migrants homeless.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
Migrants evacuate the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, on the evening of Sept. 9, 2020, as a second fire struck the notoriously overcrowded camp.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
Migrants evacuate the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, on the evening of Sept. 9, 2020, as a second fire struck the notoriously overcrowded camp.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
A migrant man carries a cat as he leaves the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, on the evening of Sept. 9, 2020. The day’s second fire struck the notoriously overcrowded camp, leaving thousands homeless.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
Migrants evacuate the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, on the evening of Sept. 9, 2020, as a second fire struck the notoriously overcrowded camp.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
Migrants sleep outside the burned Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 9, 2020. Two fires that struck the notoriously overcrowded camp left thousands homeless and renewed criticism of Europe’s migration issues.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
Migrants walk through the burned Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 9, 2020.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
An aerial view of the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 10, 2020. Little remained of the camp after two fires the previous day destroyed nearly everything, leaving thousands of people in need of emergency housing.
AP Photo / Panagiotis Balaskas
Displaced migrants sleep on the road near the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 10, 2020, after fires forced them to abandon the camp.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
A migrant woman sits on a burned bed in the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 10, 2020, after two fires the previous day virtually destroyed the camp.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
Migrants scramble for a crate of tomatoes during a food distribution on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 10, 2020, in the aftermath of two fires the previous day that virtually destroyed the Moria refugee camp.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
Migrants sleep on the roadside on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 11, 2020. The Greek government said thousands of migrants left homeless after fires gutted the sprawling Moria refugee camp would not be allowed to travel to mainland Greece.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
A migrant holds her baby as she runs to avoid a small fire in a field near Mytilene town, on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 12, 2020. Greek authorities were trying to house more than 12,000 people left in need of shelter on the island after deliberately set fires gutted the Moria refugee camp days earlier.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
A woman holds a baby as she waits with other displaced migrants for food distribution near Mytilene town, on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
A woman washes a young girl as migrants displaced by the Moria refugee camp fires gather near Mytilene town, on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 12, 2020.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
Migrants try to catch bottles of water during a distribution by local authorities near Mytilene town, on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 12, 2020. Thousands of asylum-seekers spent a fourth night sleeping in the open after fires destroyed the notoriously overcrowded Moria camp during a coronavirus lockdown.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
A migrant holds up a baby as others gather on the road near Mytilene town, on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sept. 13, 2020. Greek authorities promised that 12,000 migrants and asylum-seekers left homeless after fire gutted the overcrowded Moria camp would be moved shortly to a new tent city.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
A 2-month old baby from Afghanistan sleeps in an abandoned building near Mytilene town, on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 15, 2020. Most of the thousands of migrants displaced by fires that destroyed the Moria refugee camp had not yet been moved to a new temporary facility under construction on the island.
AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
Gatopoulos stayed up through the night filing updates until bureau chief Elena Becatoros and Athens reporter Nicholas Paphitis took over the mainbar in the morning. Meanwhile, senior video producer Theodora Tongas and chief photographer Thanassis Stavrakis in Athens worked with Lesbos-based freelancers Vangelis Papantonis and Panagiotis Balaskas to get the first images out, while editors in London and the U.S. hunted for user generated content.
AP was far ahead of its major video competition. AP had filed its fifth video edit by the time one if its main competitors had its second. AP’s 15 edits in the first 24 hours combined for spectacular play.
The top edit, showing migrants camped out on a road in the morning, received nearly 1,000 hits. The photo play was equally impressive. An image by Balaskas showing the silhouettes of migrants running from the blaze got nearly 700 online matches just in Germany and Switzerland. Balaskas also provided widely used drone footage.
Athens photographer Petros Giannakouris and freelance video journalist Iliana Mier arrived on the island as new fires started the following day, destroying what was left of the camp and triggering a humanitarian crisis as 12,000 migrants found themselves homeless. Carrying LiveU gear from Athens, Mier provided live shots that a rival video service couldn’t match for days, while Giannakouris captured the panic and despair with powerful photos that made the front pages of The New York Times, Britain's Sunday Times and others. The Guardian led their selection of the best 20 photos of the week with one of Giannakouris’ photos of migrants clutching their children as they fled the camp. Meanwhile, Becatoros and Paphitis filed their story on this latest blaze and the plight of the migrants.
For their quick, competitive response and extraordinary performance to put AP well ahead, the team of Giannakouris, Gatopoulos, Tongas, Stavrakis, Balaskas, Mier, Papantonis, Becatoros and Paphitis shares Best of the Week honors.