BANGLADESH: A massive fire ripped through a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh’s southern district of Cox’s Bazar on Sunday, leaving over 12,000 people homeless, local Superintendent of Police Mohammad Mahfuzul Islam told CNN.
Sweeping through the Kutupalong refugee camp in the afternoon, the blaze gutted around 2,000 huts before it was brought under control, Islam said.
No casualties have been reported so far, he said, adding that the cause of the fire is not yet determined but an investigation is underway.
Authorities are working with international and local humanitarian organizations to provide food and temporary shelters to those who have lost homes, he added.
“We will ensure no one sleeps under the open sky. Everyone will get a temporary shelter,” Islam said, with community centers and mosques providing housing to those affected by the fire.
Ninety facilities including hospitals and learning centers were burnt down, the Bangladesh branch of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR tweeted on Sunday.
“Rohingya refugee volunteers trained in firefighting and local fire services have controlled the fire,” it added in another tweet.
- CNN
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