Fire at Rohingya Camp: 1,200 Refugees’ Homes in Bangladesh Gutted in Massive Fire

Dhaka, January 10: Around 1,200 Rohingya refugees' homes were destroyed in a massive fire in the Kata area of Camp-16 refugee camp in Ukhiya of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh on Sunday. The cause of the blaze has not been established yet. No casualty has been reported so far. The fire broke out around 4:55 pm, said Additional Superintendent of Police, Kamran Hossen, of Armed Police Battalion-8. He added that the fire rapidly spread and destroyed around 1,200 Rohingya refugee homes, reported The Daily Star.

It was doused around 9:10 pm, said Emdadul Haque, station officer of Ukhiya Fire Station in Cox's Bazar. Enamul Hossen, a firefighter, stated that soon after getting the information about the blaze around 4.50 pm, four units of the fire station and dozens more from Cox's Bazar were rushed to the scene. Rohingya Refugee Crisis: UN, Bangladesh Sign Deal to Aid Rohingya on Island in Bay of Bengal 

Locals also said that at around 5:00 pm, they saw thick smoke billowing over the camp. Saddam Hossain, a local of Shafiullah Kata area, told The Daily Star that he saw hundreds of homes gutted in the fire. "Fire service, along with other Government agencies, are trying hard to douse the fire," he said last night. Fire in Rohingya Camp: Fire Guts Hundreds of Shelters and Leaving Thousands Homeless in Southern Bangladesh.

This is not the first time that a fire has broken out in the Rohingya camps. Incidents of fire have become common in the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar. Officials concerned have often attributed the origin of fires to gas cylinders. However, insiders in Rohingya camps have claimed that the fire is a result of arson. Notably, In March last year, 10,000 homes were gutted in a massive fire in four camps in Balukhali of Ukhiya, reported The Daily Star.