Angry migrants set fire to a camp on the Greek island of Lesbos on Thursday after a woman and a six-year-old child died following a gas cylinder explosion, local police said.

The explosion occurred while the 66-year-old woman was cooking, police said, adding that the child's mother and four-year-old sibling were hospitalised with serious injuries.

In an apparent act of rage, migrants then set fire to the Moria camp on Lesbos, causing significant damage, police said.

Firefighters arrived at the scene to try to put out the flames. </s> Woman and child killed and two others injured after a tent caught fire

Two people were killed and two others were injured after a fire broke out at a migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos late on Thursday, a police official told Reuters.

The official said that a 66-year-old woman and a six-year old child were killed when a tent caught fire in the camp of Moria. Two other people were seriously injured.

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Police and the fire brigade were investigating the scene, a government official said, adding that initial evidence showed the fire was probably caused by accident.

Clashes broke out following the incident between dozens of migrants and police, officials said. The government official said the skirmishes were brief.

More than 6,000 migrants and refugees are stranded on the island of Lesbos, twice the capacity of state facilities.

Tensions have boiled over at overcrowded camps in the country, which is also struggling to emerge from a debt crisis, as the slow processing of asylum requests adds to frustration over living conditions.

Under a European Union deal with Turkey, migrants and refugees arriving after 20 March are to be held in centres set up on five Aegean islands, including Lesbos, and sent back if their asylum applications are not accepted. </s> ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Police say two people have died on the Greek island of Lesbos and two others were seriously injured after a fire raged through a refugee camp used for migrants facing deportation back to Turkey.

Police early Friday said the fire at Moria refugee camp started by a cooking gas canister and that the victims were a young boy and an older woman. Two others were hospitalized, including another child, with extensive burns, an officer told The Associated Press.

He asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the news media.

The fire was put out but the extent of the damage was not immediately clear. Migrants at the camp clashed with police during the evacuation.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> A young boy and a woman have been killed by a fire at a refugee detention centre on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Police said the two victims died after a blaze started by a cooking gas cannister spread at the Moria camp, where migrants are being held while facing deportation back to Turkey.

Two others were hospitalised, including another child, with extensive burns, an officer told the Associated Press.

The fire was put out late on Thursday night but the extent of the damage was not immediately clear. Asylum seekers clashed with police during the evacuation, which follows months of unrest over processing delays and dire conditions at the camp.

Lesbos is one of several Greek islands holding thousands of migrants - far over their capacity - waiting for decisions on their asylum applications after crossing the Aegean Sea.

The controversial EU-Turkey deal has seen all those arriving since March detained under the threat of deportation, causing the main route to Europe to shift to the Central Mediterranean Sea.

Tensions are running high among migrants unable to continue their journeys to Western Europe, with 61,000 people trapped in Greece by a series of border closures through the Balkans.

There have also been clashes with locals on some islands, with a camp on Chios coming under attack by a far-right mob armed with Molotov cocktails last week.

Britain and several other European nations have refused to resettle migrants arriving in Italy and Greece according to quotas.

2016 is now the deadliest year on record for refugees trying to reach Europe, with almost 4,700 people drowning or suffocating on overcrowded boats. </s> ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday expressed shock and pledged to improve conditions in migrant camps after a fire killed two people and badly burned two more on the island of Lesbos.

“I am shocked, as are all Greeks, by this tragic incident,” Tsipras said during a visit to the north of the country.

“The Greek government… will intensify efforts for safety and quality of life at hospitality centers,” Tsipras said, referring to the country’s camps.

Hours earlier, a 66-year-old Iraqi Kurd and her six-year-old grandson died from the apparent explosion of a cooking gas canister inside their tent at the camp of Moria.

The boy’s mother and four-year-old sibling suffered life-threatening burns and were airlifted to Athens.

In an apparent act of rage, migrants then set fire to part of the camp, causing significant damage, police said.

Ensuing clashes between migrants and police left six migrants slightly injured, while several more were taken to Lesbos hospital with lesser burns and respiratory problems.

Some migrants fled the camp after the blast but later returned and calm was restored, a police source said.

Several fires—not all accidental—have erupted in refugee camps on the Greek islands, where some 16,000 people became stranded after the European Union signed a deal that was aimed at stemming the influx of migrants.

Moria has a capacity for 3,500 people but currently houses more than 5,000.

Part of the camp was badly damaged in a fire on September 19 during clashes between migrants and police, and thousands had to be moved out before returning two days later.

Nearly 66,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece, according to official figures. AFP </s> A migrant stands among the remains of a burned tent after a fire broke out at the Moria migrant camp, on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, November 25, 2016. Petros Tsamkakis/Intimenews via REUTERS

ATHENS (Reuters) - Two migrants were killed and two others were injured in a fire at a migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos late on Thursday, prompting clashes between other migrants and the police, authorities said on Friday.

The fire broke out at 2020 GMT after a gas canister used for cooking exploded in a tent in the camp of Moria. A woman, 66, and a 6-year-old child were killed, police said, and another woman, 25, and a 4-year-old child were seriously injured and transferred to Athens.

After the fire, dozens of frustrated migrants fought briefly with police. Many people evacuated the center and camped under trees.

"We are not animals, we are human beings," a migrant told reporters. "You people say United Nations, United Nations has human rights but we don't see any human rights here. We don't see any freedom, we don't see any democracy here."

Video footage showed tents in flames and migrants searching through debris. Dozens of tents were burned and container cabins with medical supplies, clothes and documents were damaged, a police official said.

Police and the fire brigade were investigating the incident. The fire was contained early in the morning.

More than 6,000 migrants and refugees are stranded on Lesbos, an island close to the western coast of Turkey. Their total is twice the capacity of the government-run camp of Moria and a center administered by the municipality.

Tensions have boiled over at overcrowded camps in the Greece, which is struggling to emerge from a debt crisis, as the slow processing of asylum requests adds to frustration over living conditions.

Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas told parliament the government would start transferring migrants to the mainland soon to reduce overcrowding at island camps and urged residents to cooperate with the state and help to ease tensions.

Under a European Union deal with Turkey, migrants and refugees arriving after March 20 are to be held in centers set up on five Aegean islands, including Lesbos, and sent back if their asylum applications are not accepted.

Referring to the incident and the management of the migrant crisis, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the government "was fighting a battle in adverse conditions".

"I'm shocked by the tragic event in Moria," he said in a statement. "The Greek government will further intensify efforts for safety and a better quality of life in reception centers." </s> ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister expressed shock Friday at the deaths of a woman and child in a fire that raged through an island refugee camp used for migrants facing deportation back to Turkey, while rights groups condemned the loss of life.

Alexis Tsipras said he was “shocked, as is the entire Greek nation, by the tragic event” in the Moria camp on Lesbos overnight. The aid agency International Rescue Committee described the deaths as “a damning indictment of the ineptitude of Eurpean leaders’ response to the refugee crisis.”

Police said a cooking gas canister sparked the fire, and that the victims were a young boy and an older woman. Another woman and a second child were severely injured and flown to Athens, where they were hospitalized in serious condition, while several others were less seriously hurt.

Migrants at the camp clashed with police as they were evacuated from the camp during the blaze, which was extinguished by firefighters.

“The Greek government is fighting a determined battle in difficult circumstances for the humanitarian management of the refugee issue, and will further intensify its efforts for security and quality of life in the shelters,” Tsipras said in a statement.

Panos Navrozidis, the IRC’s country director for Greece, said in a statement that the group had already warned of the dangers of overcrowded conditions in Greek camps, and about conditions in Moria.

“As a humanitarian, it is soul-crushing to see events like this happen within the European Union,” he said. “It is an abdication of our responsibility as global leaders that we, in Europe, refuse to do better for some of the world’s most vulnerable.”

Protests have repeatedly occurred at overcrowded deportation camps. Under a deal reached in March between Turkey and the European Union, migrants arriving on Greek islands from Turkey face deportation back to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece. The deal was designed to stanch the flow of hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants into the European Union via the Aegean Sea route.

While the number of people arriving on Greek islands has dropped significantly as a result, it has not stopped altogether. Thousands of people are stranded in severely overcrowded camps on the islands, leading to tension within the camps as well as with locals. In total, more than 62,000 people are stranded in Greece, while an EU agreement to relocate tens of thousands of them to other European countries is suffering severe delays.

Separately on Friday, the coast guard said a patrol boat located 42 migrants on a sailboat 36 nautical miles (41 miles; 66 kilometers) southeast of the southern Greek island of Crete. The vessel was located after one of the passengers made a call to emergency services, the coast guard said. All the passengers were transported to the town of Ierapetra on Crete, and were reported in good health. </s> Greek riot police fired tear gas Thursday at angry protesters on the island of Lesbos who tried to topple a police bus during a demonstration against a European Union migration policy.

The protesters were among 2,500 demonstrators who gathered in Lesbos’ main port as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrived to speak at a conference. A large contingent of riot police formed a cordon to block the protesters from advancing further, and scores of them then tried to push over a police bus in clashes that lasted more than an hour. No arrests or injuries were reported.

Officers fired tear gas and earlier had discharged several flash grenades.

A general strike Thursday virtually shut down the island to protest a 2016 agreement between the EU and Turkey that has left thousands of asylum-seekers stranded on Lesbos. Under the deal, migrants arriving on Greek islands from Turkey are held and face deportation to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece. The deal has created a massive backlog, angering people on Lesbos and other Greek islands.

“It has gone too far. Every day buses (with refugees) arrive, and they’re full,” protester Yannis Vaxevanis said.

“The (government) has to do something and take the people somewhere else.”

Most businesses, shops, cafes and local government offices were shuttered in the main town of Mytilene. The only sign of normality was that police officers were still on duty, and the local tax office was open.

Stores were also closed in protest on the nearby island of Chios.

More than 15,000 migrants and refugees remain stuck on Lesbos, Chios, and three other islands, most staying in severely overcrowded camps.

“Thousands of people are still living in appalling conditions with limited access to medical facilities,” the aid group Doctors Without Borders. Conditions at the largest refugee camp in Lesbos, the group said “were putting the health and lives of people stranded on the island at risk.”

Additional police officers, including anti-riot units, were sent to Lesbos and took up positions around Mytilene. Supporters and opponents of the government used vans fitted with loudspeakers to promote the protest as well as a speech planned by the prime minister later Thursday.

Tension on the islands has been building as the number of migrants arriving from Turkey has risen sharply in recent weeks.

“The situation on the island is exceptionally difficult. We are feeling the effects of a long-term financial crisis and the way the refugee crisis has been handled,” Lesbos Mayor Spyros Galinos said.

“For there to be any talk of growth or recovery, we must first be lifted out of this emergency situation.”

The government has promised to move thousands of asylum-seekers to the mainland but says the effort will take several months to implement – requiring additional staff and more shelter sites around Greece.

“Our aim is to deal with delays as swiftly as possible,” Tsipras said, before adding: “There are people who didn’t want me to visit the island and tried to scare (the government) away ... We did not run away.”

In the meantime, the number of daily arrivals continues to rise on the island and Greece’s land border with Turkey.

Authorities said 53 people believed to be from Iraq and Syria were picked up Thursday after a yacht used to smuggle them into the country ran aground on a remote mainland beach in northeastern Greece.

The 12-meter (40-foot) Turkish-flagged yacht ran aground on Molyvoti beach in the northeastern Rodopi region, far from any of the usual smuggling routes used to ferry migrants and refugees from Turkey to Greece.

The group was made up of 19 men, 11 women and 23 children between the ages of 2 and 8. </s> Hungary could deport hundreds of Afghan refugees after 24 police officers were reported injured during violent clashes in Bulgaria's largest refugee camp late Thursday and early Friday.

About 2,000, mostly Afghan, refugees burnt tires and furniture and threw stones at some 250 police officers, gendarmerie members and firefighters at the Harmanli reception center.

More than 400 migrants were arrested as police quelled the protest with rubber bullets and water cannons.

The migrants were protesting recent bans on leaving the camp, imposed after alleged outbreaks of infectious disease within the center.

Arrested protesters face extradition to Afghanistan as early as next month, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said on Friday after canceling a trip to Hungary.

"I am very worried ... You see there is no window left unbroken. The people who committed these acts of vandalism will be brought to justice," he told reporters.

"Based on an agreement between the European Union and Afghanistan we have asked for a plane to start extraditing people there in early December. As for the rest, all who have acted brutally and violated public order will be moved to closed camps."

Local police chief Nina Nikolova told the AFP news agency earlier Thursday that the situation was under control and the protesters were talking with the state refugee agency.

But clashes reignited in the evening when police used two water cannons to force the group back into the buildings and prevented them from leaving the center.

Infectious disease reports

Authorities had sealed the camp to investigate reports of contagious diseases in the center.

Last week Harmanli residents, supported by nationalists, held a protest calling for the camp's closure following local media reports of skin diseases such as chicken pox as well as viral infections in the camp population.

Residents demanding camp's closure

The head of the Bulgarian Refugee Agency, Petya Parvanova, told BNR reports of disease were false and there was no medical reason to quarantine the camp.

Refugees clash with police in Greece

On the Greek island of Lesbos, dozens of frustrated migrants briefly fought police after two people were killed and two others were injured in an accidental gas canister fire at the Moria refugee camp late on Thursday.

A 66-year-old woman and a 6-year-old were killed, police said, while a 25-year-old woman and a 4-year-old were seriously injured and sent to Athens for medical treatment.

"We are not animals, we are human beings," a migrant told reporters. "You people say United Nations, United Nations has human right, but we don't see any human rights here. We don't see any freedom, we don't see any democracy here."

Dozens of tents were burned and container cabins with medical supplies, clothes and documents were damaged, a police official said.

aw/sms (AFP, dpa, AP, Reuters)
Two people are killed and two others injured after a fire breaks out in a migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. The cause is currently under investigation, although some believe the fire was deliberately started in protest of poor living conditions, after a 66-year-old woman and a six-year-old child were killed in a gas explosion.