DHAKA – A devastating fire swept through several camps of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s southeastern Cox’s Bazar district, destroying about 2,000 homes and leaving thousands of people homeless.
No casualties have so far been reported, according to local media on Sunday.
Emdadul Haque, duty officer at the Fire Service Control Room in Chattogram, told reporters that the fire started at camp No. 10 and subsequently spread to two other camps No. 11 and 12, Xinhua news agency reported.
On information, 10 firefighting units rushed to the area and brought the blaze under control at around 5 p.m. local time.
The cause of the fire, which broke out at around 2:45 p.m. local time, has not been ascertained with officials yet to comment on the accident.
Local media reports put the number of shanties destroyed fully or partially in the fire at about 2,000.
Many affected camp dwellers were seen lamenting their loss in the open sky Sunday night as most of them left behind all valuables to save their lives.
More than 1 million displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar are living in Cox’s Bazar, nearly 300 km southeast of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, according to local media. -IANS
