Fire breaks out at Greece's Samos migrant camp, forcing evacuation of 550 people

Fire burns makeshift tents outside the perimeter of the overcrowded refugee camp at the port of Vathy on the eastern Aegean island of Samos, Greece, late Sunday, 19 Sept. 2021
Fire burns makeshift tents outside the perimeter of the overcrowded refugee camp at the port of Vathy on the eastern Aegean island of Samos, Greece, late Sunday, 19 Sept. 2021 Copyright AP Photo/Michael Svarnias
By Associated Press
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The migrants are being transferred to a brand new €43 million facility.

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A fire broke out late Sunday at a soon-to-be-closed migrant camp on the Greek island of Samos, forcing its evacuation. 

No injuries or major damage were reported.

Authorities said the fire started in some abandoned buildings inside the camp and had been brought under control. 

They have also begun evacuating the 550 migrants to an empty plot near the camp's entrance, while 10 unaccompanied minors were moved overnight to a new facility on the island. 

The transfer of all the migrants to a new €43 million facility should be completed by Wednesday.

The existing camp once housed up to 7,500 migrants in squalid conditions, as Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis admitted on Saturday, upon opening the new camp.

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