A Greek church charity has sent boxes of "inappropriate" aid to tsunami victims in Sri Lanka, including fur coats, thongs and carnival wigs, an aid organisation said. The aid, more than 600 tonnes, was collected in Greece by the Orthodox Church's charity organisation Solidarity and shipped to Sri Lanka using a cruise ship. The operation was coordinated by the Greek Foreign Ministry. "We had a staff of eight on the ship travelling to Sri Lanka. When they arrived and started opening boxes containing the aid they were shocked and angered," said Elli Xenou, Doctors of the World director of foreign missions.
"There were boxes containing fur coats, carnival wigs and underwear thongs which were completely inappropriate," she said. Dimitris Fourlemadis, solidarity director, said there could have been some boxes containing suspect clothing but said the figure was very small. "We sent 26,919 packages. Even if there were two, 10 or 100 boxes with some other stuff inside, it is a very small number and not worth mentioning," he said. The Foreign Ministry said it was investigating the issue, which has caused outrage in Greek media. |