A group of European Parliament MPs on Friday criticised “horrid” overcrowding and poor access to medical care at an immigrant detention centre on the Greek Aegean island of Samos.

“Conditions on Samos island are horrid, truly undignified,” Martine Roure, a French socialist MEP, told a news conference.

“This centre cannot continue operating... there is a need for doctors, nurses, psychologists, if possible, and translators,” she said.

Like many other Aegean islands, Samos lies on a major transit route used by people-smugglers where dozens of would-be immigrants from Asia and Africa are intercepted every month.

The Samos detention centre near the port of Vathi is known to house nearly 300 people, including women and children, in a building that only has two toilets, Victoria Banti-Markouti, a lawyer cooperating with the Greek branch of Amnesty International, told AFP.

The visiting MEPs have inspected similar facilities in Italy, Spain, Malta and France. Of these, Malta had the most appalling conditions but Samos ranks second, Roure said.