(Kutupalong) A fire that broke out in a Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh on Sunday left around 12,000 people homeless, an official said.
The fire broke out in the early afternoon in Camp Number 11 in Kutupalong, one of the largest refugee camps in the world, and quickly destroyed the bamboo shelters, Mijanur told AFP. Rahman, Commissioner for Refugees in Bangladesh.
“Some 2,000 shelters have been burnt down, leaving around 12,000 Myanmar nationals homeless,” he said.
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STRINGER PHOTO, REUTERS
Thick smoke rising from the Balukhali camp in Ukhiya
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PHOTO MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Refugees forced to move after blaze
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STRINGER PHOTO, REUTERS
A refugee family gathering their belongings after the fire
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PHOTO MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trees in flames
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More than 30 mosques and 20 refugee learning centers were also destroyed, he added, with no casualties reported.
The fire was brought under control in three hours and the authorities ordered an investigation to establish in what circumstances the fire had broken out.
Fires are frequent in the camps where nearly a million Rohingya refugees live in precarious conditions.
Most of them fled military repression in Burma in 2017 and took refuge in Bangladesh.
A Bangladesh Defense Ministry report last month said that between January 2021 and December 2022, there were 222 fires in Rohingya camps, including 60 arson attacks.
In March 2021, one such fire killed 15 people and left some 50,000 people homeless.