A fire at a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh has killed several people and burned thousands of shelters.
Local officials and eyewitnesses say a fire broke out in a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh on Monday, killing several people and burning thousands of homes. This fire has been the worst of its kind in recent years.
Published images and videos show a fire in the Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, blazing as black smoke billows over the shelters of Rohingya Muslims trying to protect their property from the fire.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cox’s Bazar said firefighters had rushed to the aid of asylum seekers, but said many of their shelters had been destroyed and several people had died. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
This is not the first fire in Rohingya refugee camps. On January 14, 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that more than 550 shelters belonging to about 3,500 Rohangya refugees had been destroyed by fire at the Niapara refugee camp on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
The recent fires come as Bangladesh plans to send between 2,000 and 3,000 Rohingya Muslims to remote islands, despite warnings from human rights groups. Bangladesh has sent about 3,500 Rohingya refugees to Bahasan Char Island since mid-December.