Bulgaria's Migrant Centers 'Overcrowded'

A Bulgarian official has warned that migrant accommodation centers are working at 7% beyond their capacities, not having enough room for residents.

As many as 5568 people currently live in the centers, some of which have been equipped with additional beds, Dimitar Kirov, who heads the "quality of international protection procedures" department at the State Agency for Refugees (DAB), has told Focus Radio.

An additional temporary facility which can fit in some 400 people could also become operational in case of emergency.

As many as 10 000 migrants have willingly left the accommodation centers since the beginning of the year, a process causing significant delays in protection procedures.

A surge in the number of migrants has been seen since the beginning of the summer.

While in February DAB centers operated at less than 8% of their nationwide capacities and at around twenty percent in March, arrivals went up in June and doubled in August (if compared to the previous month).

The previous DAB chair, Nikola Kazakov, had indicated that centers could not make room for more than 5100 people.

The total number of migrants residing on Bulgarian territory is 14 132.