UPDATE - Thousands of shacks gutted in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camp fire

UPDATES WITH DAMAGE ASSESSMENT BY UN

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Thousands of temporary shelters were burnt in a fire that broke out at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on Sunday, officials said.

The fire hit Camp 11 in Cox’s Bazar, a border district which hosts more than a million Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.

There were no casualties, and a police official said the cause of the blaze was not clear, but it is likely because of gas cylinders used for cooking. The fire spread quickly as most of the homes are made of bamboo and tarpaulin.

The Armed Police Battalion, the force in charge of maintaining law and order in the refugee camps, said in a statement that nearly 2,000 tents were gutted and 12,000 Rohingya left homeless.

“The Rohingya would be shifted to different camp-based learning centers and other shelters under the supervision of Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner’s office, and donor agencies including the UNHCR and World Food Program will provide them food and other support,” said the statement.

The UNHCR in Bangladesh said on Twitter that Rohingya volunteers trained on firefighting, and local fire services brought the fire under control.

The UN body said 2,000 shelters were damaged or destroyed, while 12,000 refugees "lost everything again." As many as 90 facilities including hospitals and learning centers were burnt down, it added.

Similar fires occurred at the camps in January 2022 and March 2021. While the blaze last year only damaged homes, the one in 2021 killed 15 community members and destroyed over 10,000 settlements.