LONDON: At least 250 asylum-seekers detained at a UK facility are suing the government for unlawful detention after it emerged that the site was dangerously overcrowded and faced infectious disease outbreaks.

Manston asylum center in Kent, used by the Home Office to process people who had crossed the English Channel on small boats, was once described by a union official as a “humanitarian crisis on British soil,” The Guardian reported on Monday.

David Neal, the former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said he was “rendered speechless” after seeing conditions at Manston.

Andy Baxter, a senior official at the Prison Officers’ Association, also condemned conditions at the site after being warned by union members working there.

He described Manston as closely resembling a refugee camp in an unstable country after visiting the site, which he said was “in crisis.”

Marquees that were intended to be used for hours upon the arrival of asylum-seekers had been used for more than a month, despite the Home Office planning to relocate arrivals to more permanent accommodation. People slept on the ground using pieces of cardboard, he added.

Manston also faced diphtheria and scabies outbreaks, with one man dying after contracting the former, a rarity in the UK due to vaccination. Kent Police also investigated claims that guards at the facility had assaulted asylum-seekers.

One of the claimants against the government, a 19-year-old Sudanese national, was detained at the site for 33 days, and his past experience of being tortured and trafficked was never recorded by officials at Manston.

While at the facility, he was “often hungry” and was allowed one shower during the 33-day period.

He was also denied a change of clothes, and was told by officials to “go back to your country.”

A 17-year-old Kurd from Iraq, detained for 12 days, had his birth date recorded as five years older than his real age, despite telling officials he was a child.

A Syrian woman who arrived in the UK with her husband and five children outlined the troubling details of her ordeal in the claim.

Her husband was removed to a separate immigration center after complaining about conditions at Manston, yet she was not informed about his whereabouts and feared he had been deported.

The woman and her children spent 11 days in a freezing, dirty tent, and were only permitted to leave to go to the toilet.

Her children contracted a stomach bug that was circulating at the site, and she had nowhere to wash their vomit-stained clothes.

She later discovered that she was pregnant after suffering morning sickness, and was unable to access medical care in Manston.

After being released and seeking treatment, she discovered that she had suffered a miscarriage.

She has now reunited with her husband together with their children, but said the experience at Manston continues to affect the family.

Emily Soothill of law firm Deighton Pierce Glynn, who is representing some of the claimants, said: “We consider that our clients were falsely imprisoned and that the conditions in Manston were such that their human rights were breached.

“People seeking asylum are more vulnerable to physical and mental illness; they have the right to be treated with dignity and should not be detained in this way.”