MURMANSK (Sputnik) — The frontier city of Kirkenes has currently seen 500 refugees arrive but officials state that facilities that could host the asylum seekers, such as a former bomb shelter for 150 people and some hotels, are already overcrowded.
"We are seeing a lack of control, it is unacceptable," local mayor Cecilia Hansen said as quoted by the media.
Authorities expect that some 4,000 refugees, mostly Syrian, will cross the Russian-Norwegian border to reach Kirkenes a small city of about 3,500 people. Last year 73 refugees were documented using the northern route into the country.
Europe is facing a major refugee crisis as hundreds of thousands of people, a large portion of whom are from Syria, arrive in the European Union, fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries.
According to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, over 25,000 asylum applications are expected to be filed by refugees arriving in the country in 2015.
