The blaze at the camp - home to 4,400 - came after rumours of deportation

A huge ship will be used to accommodate thousands of migrants on Lesbos after the detention centre where they were being held was destroyed in a riot sparked by rumours they were about to be deported.

More than 4,400 people living at the site fled as flames ripped through the camp during an outbreak of violence.

Teams of riot police were dispatched to the Greek island to restore order with nine migrants arrested.

Blaze: More than 1,000 migrants living on the Greek island of Lesbos are to be housed on a boat after fire destroyed much of its largest camp (pictured)

Nine migrants have been arrested on suspicion of starting the fire at camp Moria (pictured), which houses more than 4,400

This morning Moria locals (pictured) held a protest outside City Hall over what they see as a migrant invasion

A passenger ferry will be chartered as a floating detention centre, providing temporary accommodation while the camp is restored.

Officials on the popular holiday island last night demanded the immediate evacuation of all migrants who they claimed had brought recurrent problems.

Christiana Kalogirou, governor of the region that includes Lesbos, said she had repeatedly warned the Greek government that camps on the Aegean islands were dangerously overcrowded.

'Residents are complaining refugees have converted the beach and the palm tree forest into a wasteland,' added Evangelos Violatzsis, the president of the nearby village of Panagiouda, told MailOnline.

He added: 'They are also concerned about possible damage to buildings and petty thefts. We demand the immediate decongestion of Moria and Kara Tepe [nearby village].'

Dramatic images showed women fleeing from the fire with babies in their arms.

Carrying what little belongings they own, families scrambled out of the camp as the fire destroyed 50 tents, three containers, clothing, footwear and trees.

Residents are complaining refugees have converted the beach and the palm tree forest into a wasteland Evangelos Violatzsis, president of the nearby village of Panagiouda

Ten fire trucks carrying 30 firefighters rushed to tackle the blaze. They stood by helplessly for half an hour as dozens of migrants brawled between them and the inferno.

By the time the fire was put out at around midnight, four hours after it began, at least 60 per cent of the camp was incinerated.

Many of its inhabitants returned to find their tarpaulin homes and humble possessions in cinders.

The Moria camp is overcrowded with 4,400 people living there when there is only meant to be room for around 800.

The number of migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey has doubled to 1,000 in the past week as Turkey's controversial £5billion EU deal to take migrants back from Greece threatened to collapse.

Up to 4,000 migrants were forced to flee the overcrowded Moria camp (pictured) as the blaze tore apart their tarpaulin homes and tents

The fire (pictured) was put out at around midnight, four hours after it began

As migrants returned to their charred belongings and makeshift homes, officials have complained the arrivals have laid waste to the once-picturesque area

According to one official, locals have complained migrants (pictured) are turning 'the beach and the palm tree forest into a wasteland'

Officials have also complained the camp (pictured today) is 'dangerously overcrowded', saying it 'can host 800 people and it has 3000'

Thousands of refugees returned to the camp this morning (pictured) to find their makeshift homes and possessions in cinders

Many of the refugee families will now be moved to a vessel which will be moored in the port and will arrive on Wednesday.

Greece's Shipping Minister Thodoris Dristas said: 'The ship will have a capacity of over 1,000 and it will be used as a hostel in order to ease the situation after yesterday's incident.

He said refugees travelling as families would be housed first and another ship will be needed, but did not mention if there were plans to charter one.

Everything is in chaos... The sewage has ended up in the river once again. Nikos Trakellis, president of Moria

Teams of riot police were dispatched to the Greek island following the brawl which sparked the camp fire.

Police said the men taken into custody came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Senegal, Syria and Cameroon.

Locals in Moria gathered outside City Hall on Monday morning to protest against the new arrivals.

Nikos Trakellis, village president, told MailOnline: 'We have had enough. Nothing - except for a police presence - has been done.

'Everything is in chaos. The sewage has ended up in the river once again.'

'What is going to happen now that winter is coming? Where are they going to go? They are trapped.

Moria locals (pictured outside City Hall) have demanded the immediate removal of migrants from the island

Echoing the anger of his constituents (pictured), the village president told MailOnline: 'We have had enough'

Many of the refugee families (pictured, inspecting the damage to the camp) could now be moved to a boat moored on the islands port

'In the winter, they are going to vandalise homes in order to stay warm or find something to eat.'

Before the fire broke out, hundreds of migrants protested over the painfully slow pace of registering and relocating the thousands living in the overcrowded camp.

Zaharie, 35, from Sudan said: 'I've been waiting for three months and I want to leave. Open the borders!'

In the winter, they [migrants] are going to vandalise homes in order to stay warm or find something to eat Nikos Trakellis, president of Moria

Biral, 26, from Eritrea said he has been in Moria for eight months and he cannot stand it anymore.

He added: 'We eat potatoes or spaghetti every day and it is not enough for everyone. We stand in the queue under the sun.

'Something has to be done immediately, the Afghans are fighting with the Africans, there are complaints all the time, and we need peace and security.

More than 5,000 are awaiting for their asylum requests to be approved on Lesbos island alone.

One hundred unaccompanied minors have recently been transferred from Moria to the PIKPA refugee camp run by volunteers.

As many as 1000 unaccompanied minors have been moved from Moria to the PIKPA camp (pictured) run by volunteers

Vilal, 17, from Pakistan, who has been moved to the PIKPA camp, desceibed Moria as a 'jail'

They included 15-year-old Ali from Pakistan, who has lived in Moria for eight months and described it as a 'jail'.

Vilal, 17, who is also from Pakistan, has called the squalid camp home for nine months.

He said: 'Moria is very bad and we want to go out. We want to be interviewed for our asylum request'.

Witnesses said members of Greece's neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party provoked the protesting migrants by singing nationalist slogans.

Regional governor Christiana Kalogirou said she has repeatedly warned the government that camps on the east Aegean islands were dangerously overcrowded.

Hundreds of migrants (pictured, watching the camp fire) protested over the painfully slow pace of registering and relocating them

Officials have warned the migrants will 'vandalise homes' in the winter in a desperate bid to stay warm and find something to eat

'They [migrants] are sick of waiting... They don't know when their asylum claims will be processed,' said of the migrants in the overcrowded Moria

She told local TV: 'On the islands of the northeast Aegean, facilities have a capacity of 5,450 places but more than 10,500 people are there.

There is an immediate need to take people off the islands because things will get even more difficult.'

More than 60,000 migrants and refugees are stranded in transit in Greece and those who arrived after March 20 have been restricted to five Aegean islands under a European Union-brokered deal to deport them back to Turkey.

Regional officer Stratis Kitelis said 'under no circumstances' should they build new camps which he described as 'prisons of human souls'.

Many migrants are believed to have travelled 25km to the city of Mytilene, where they slept on the streets without food, water or shelter.

Officers are investigating whether the migrants at the base started the fire today

Local Greeks living in the 11th Century city held their own protest over the increasing number of refugees and immigrants flooding into the town.

Human rights groups have repeatedly criticised the condition of Greek migrant camps, pointing to overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions.

Sixty five young immigrants and refugees have arrived on the northern Aegean islands in the last 24 hours, with 38 landing on the shores of Lesbos.

More than 13,000 in total are believed to be living on five islands in facilities built to house fewer than 8,000.