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Firefighters bring migrant camp fire on Greek island of Samos under control

A BLAZE that tore through the Vathy migrant camp on the Greek island of Samos was brought under control by firefighters today, according to authorities.

“There is no danger for those who are still there because the fire broke out in abandoned sheds in the western side of the camp,” a statement from Greece’s Ministry of Migration said.

The site, which was due to be closed at the end of the month, was still home to 300 people — many of whom were visibly upset at the destruction caused by the fire.

They are waiting to be transferred to a controversial new “closed camp” that was inaugurated by Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi last weekend.

It is set to be the first of five such sites, which refugee rights organisations have said are restrictive and criminalise asylum-seekers.

The new camp is surrounded by a double barbed wire fence and is fitted out with surveillance cameras, X-ray scanners and magnetic doors.

It also includes a detention centre for people whose asylum claims have been rejected and who are to be sent back to Turkey.

Most of the Vathy camp residents had reportedly been evacuated safely, with no reports of casualties from the fire.

It comes a year after blazes at the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos left 13,000 people without shelter.

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