A huge fire broke out today in a refugee camp of Rohingya, in southern Bangladesh, killing many people and leaving thousands homeless, according to officials and eyewitnesses.
Videos and photos posted on social media sites show the flames sweeping the Balouhali camp in Cox’s Bazar. Black smoke rises over the huts and tents where the refugees lived, while people look for their belongings in the apocalypse.
A spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Louise Donovan, said firefighters, rescuers and volunteers were rushing to the area trying to contain the blaze so it would not spread further. Mohamed Samsud Doza, a Bangladeshi government official in charge of refugee affairs, also said authorities were trying to contain the blaze.
Rohingya refugees said many houses were burned and there were many casualties. Local authorities and the UN were unable to confirm the death toll.
The causes of the fire remain unclear.
More than 1 million Rohingya live in camps in southern Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar in 2017 to escape military operations.
Zaifour Hussein, a 50-year-old refugee who escaped the blaze but lost his home and is being hosted by his friends, said he believed dozens of people had been killed. “Because of the fence around the camp, it was difficult for them to escape,” he explained.
“When we were in Myanmar we had a lot of problems (…) they destroyed everything. “Now it happened again,” he said.
A Rohingya leader in Cox’s Bazar, Mohamed Noohim, said he had seen many dead. “Thousands of huts were completely burned,” he added.
Local authorities said the fire started in a camp and spread to two nearby. At least 20,000 people live in this area.
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