Immigrant detention centre relocates 150 people after fire

A major operation was under way last night to relocate 150 people held in an immigration removal centre after a fire destroyed part of the building. The fire, at the Campsfield House detention centre near Kidlington, Oxfordshire, resulted in two men being taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

It is not known what caused the fire, which broke out on Friday night in the largest of the centre's three residential blocks, but the Home Office has confirmed that it was not connected to any violence and that no members of staff were injured. The buildings were evacuated for three hours until the fire was brought under control by 10 fire engines.

The roof of the building collapsed and 150 of Campsfield's 216 detainees have had to be relocated to other immigration removal centres. A Home Office spokesman said: "All the detainees have been accounted for and two male detainees are now in hospital."

In 2008, detainees at Campsfield House set a series of small fires as a protest against another detainee being forcibly removed from his cell at 4am.