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Fire destroys Rohingya camp in Bangladesh

March 22, 2021

A sprawling fire has devastated a Cox's Bazar camp where Rohingya Muslims live. Humanitarian groups fear it might strip hundreds of thousands of refugees of shelter.

https://p.dw.com/p/3qy4h
People watch the massive fire at the Balukhali refugee camp
At least 750,000 Rohingya Muslims live at the Balukhali refugee campImage: Shafiqur Rahman/AP Photo/picture alliance

Fire guts hundreds of shelters in Rohingya refugee camp

A massive fire broke out on Monday at a refugee camp sheltering hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims in the southeastern Cox's Bazar district in Bangladesh, some 300 kilometers (nearly 186 miles) south of the capital. 

Volunteers and rescue workers rushed to the scene to assist those affected as security forces tried to contain the fire, a spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR told reporters.  

"So far the fire has affected shelters, health centers, distribution points and other facilities," Louise Donovan said.  

Firefighters wage hours-long battle

The fire started in one block of the camp and has since spread to other parts, the humanitarian organization CARE reported. 

"It is important to get the fire under control quickly now, as it is getting closer and closer to the more densely populated sections of the camp," said Ram Das, CARE's deputy country director in Bangladesh. 

However, no casualties were immediately recorded.  

The UN International Organization for Migration said on Twitter the fire caused "visible extensive damage." 

Nearly three hours after the fire broke out, efforts to stop the fire were still ongoing, and casualties were yet to be verified, the Rohingya Response, a UN humanitarian office, said on Twitter. 

Rohingya fear going back to Myanmar

More than one million exiled Rohingya Muslims live in Bangladesh. 

The majority of them fled Myanmar after the Buddhist-majority country's military cracked down on the minority group in 2017.  

Bangladesh has attempted to send Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar through a joint agreement between the two countries. But they refuse to leave as they fear persecution and violence.

fb/dj (AP, dpa, Reuters)