Onlookers gather as smoke and flames can be seen on a hillside after a fire broke out in a Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhia on Jan 9, 2022. (PHOTO / AFP)
A fire swept through a Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh on Sunday, destroying hundreds of homes, according to officials and witnesses, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The blaze hit Camp 16 in Cox's Bazar, a border district where than a million Rohingya refugees live, with most having fled Myanmar in 2017.
The blaze hit Camp 16 in Cox's Bazar, a border district where than a million Rohingya refugees live, with most having fled Myanmar in 2017
Mohammed Shamsud Douza, a Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said emergency workers had brought the fire under control. The cause of the blaze has not been established, he added.
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"Everything is gone. Many are without homes," said Abu Taher, a Rohingya refugee.
Another blaze tore through a COVID-19 treatment center for refugees in another refugee camp in the district last Sunday, causing no casualties.
A devastating fire last March swept through the world’s biggest refugee settlement in Cox's Bazar, killing at least 15 refugees and burned down more than 10,000 shanties.
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