A KEIGHLEY former lorry driver has returned from a mercy trip to the Greek island of Lesbos helping refugees.

Abdul Ghafoor was among a party that took a transit van full of food, water, blankets and tents to help some of the thousands of people fleeing Middle East and African war zones.

The group travelled from Greece to other parts of Europe following the trail of migrants, helping wherever they could, including border flashpoints in Macedonia and Hungary, as well as a tented camp in Calais.

Mr Ghafoor, 67, from Shann Park, who drove the van on the 4,500-mile round-trip, was with his friends – Bradford businessman Ghalib Hussain, 53, and city resident Shafiq Hussain, 58.

The men have been involved in several previous foreign journeys to help people in need, including convoys to conflict-torn Gaza, ambulances full of supplies to help victims of floods and fever in Pakistan, and journeys to Syria to distribute blankets and meal tokens.

Ghalib Hussain instigated the mission to Lesbos, and provided most of the funding, after being moved by the plight of refugees making the perilous boat journey to the island from Turkey. Friends and family also helped fill the Sprinter van with donations.

Mr Ghafoor said: “Ghalib Hussain asked if I was free to help with the driving because I know the roads through Europe. I dropped everything.

“In Lesbos, you can see the refugees everywhere. It’s a mess. There are such rough living conditions and residents are demonstrating against them.

“When we ran out of supplies, we went to the local cash-and-carry to buy more. It was food and water that people needed.”

Long queues lined up every day to get supplies, from baby food and clothing to food and personal hygiene goods.

Tents and blankets were not needed in Lesbos, so Mr Ghafoor and his friends drove to the Greece-Macedonia border to distribute what they had left.

They moved on to the Hungry-Serbia border – the scene of violence last month during border crossings – but discovered migrants were receiving help from international agencies. They visited the ‘Jungle’ camp at Calais on the return trip.

Mr Ghafoor said: “This was even worse than the other places. People didn’t even have tents, and they had very little to eat.

“A lot of French people go to the camp to give people food. We gave them our own food, sleeping bags and cooking equipment before we came back to the UK.”

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