Australia tries to halt unrest at immigration detention camp

Immigrants at a detention centre on Australia's Christmas Island are protesting following the death of an Iranian escapee, lighting fires and damaging medical, educational and sporting facilities in what authorities are describing as a "major disturbance".

Five detainees were slightly injured in the operation and the Immigration Department states calm has been restored, however the damage bill is mounting from the initial $1 million estimate.

A riot that started Sunday at the Christmas Island Detention Centre ended Tuesday as officers used tear gas and a few force to stop the detainees who were threatening to use weapons against the officers.

The group leading the unrest appeared to be detainees being held there because their visas were cancelled, rather than asylum-seekers, the department said. Others are native New Zealanders with criminal records awaiting deportation after their visas to remain in Australia were revoked.

There are 203 inmates now at the centre, including many non-Australian criminals who have been removed from Australian prisons to the remote Indian Ocean island detention prior to being deported.

The Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says all seven men are accused of taking part in the riot and are classified as extreme risk.

Inmates are reported to have said that they heard the dead man - identified as 30-something Fazel Chegeni - being pursued after he escaped detention. His body was found at the base of a cliff the following morning.

The unrest was sparked after a small group of Iranian detainees staged a protest at the death of an escapee on Sunday.

The Prime Minister is coming under increasing pressure over the detainee issue, ONE News political reporter Katie Bradford says.

Most Christmas Island detainees had unrestricted access to their mobile phones before the riot.

The government has said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Detainees not participating in the unrest were moved to a secure part of the facility.

The Immigration Department insisted that there was "no large-scale riot" but that the centre remained tense. Police were forced to flee after fires were started.

"I called Christmas Island [after the riot] and they said they were keeping the phones for investigations".

Refugees who pay people smugglers to make the unsafe journey in rickety boats across the sea from Indonesia are detained in centres on Christmas Island and the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Asylum seekers in the camp have often been intercepted en route for mainland Australia.