Bangladesh: Fire at Rohingya refugee camp abolishes thousands of homes

Officials and witnesses declared that an enormous fire occurred at Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh on Monday, which demolishing thousands of homes.

Indeed, Video took by a resident indicated a fire destroying the Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar, while people scrambling to recover their possessions with burning shanties and tents.

On his part, Louise Donovan, spokesperson for UN refugee agency UNHCR in Cox’s Bazar, where refugees live in rickety sheds, said: Fire services, rescue and response teams and volunteers are at the scene to try to control the fire and prevent it spreading further.

Moreover, Rohingya refugees in the camps stated that several homes were burned down and many people were died, however; no the authorities or the UNHCR affirmed if there were deaths.

It should be noted that more than a million Rohingya live in the land camps in southern Bangladesh, the vast majority were fled from Myanmar in 2017 from a military-led crackdown that U.N investigators reported that was carried out with genocidal intent, while Myanmar denied these charges.

Furthermore, Tayeba Begum, a Save the Children volunteer who saw the fire said: The fire spread so quickly that before we understood what happened, it caught our house. People were screaming and running here and there. Children were also running … crying for their family.

Besides, a Rohingya leader in Cox’s Bazar, which constitutes a sliver of land bordering Myanmar in southeastern Bangladesh, said that he saw many dead bodies. Mohammed Nowkhim informed Reuters that thousands of huts were totally burned down. Also, Mohammed Shamsud Douza, who is the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said: We are trying to control the blaze.

There was another large fire at the camp in January, which demolishes homes but without any casualties. Onno Van Manen, Country Director of Save the Children in Bangladesh said that the risk of fire in the densely populated camps is high, and Monday’s blaze was the largest yet.

He also said: It is another devastating blow to the Rohingya refugees who live here. Just a couple of days ago we lost one of our health facilities in another fire.

Otherwise, the UNHCR stated humanitarian partners had mobilized hundreds of volunteers from nearby camps for the support operation, and also fire safety vehicles and equipment.

Spokeswoman Donovan also stated: So far the fire has affected shelters, health centers, distribution points and other facilities,”