A fire that broke out at a Rohingya refugee camp in southeast Bangladesh on Sunday has left around 12,000 people homeless, an official said.
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The fire broke out in Camp No. 11 in Kutupalong, one of the world’s largest refugee camps, in the early afternoon and quickly destroyed the bamboo shelters, Bangladesh Refugee Commissioner Mijanur told AFP Rahman.
“About 2,000 shelters were burned down, leaving around 12,000 Myanmar nationals homeless,” he said.
More than 30 mosques and 20 refugee learning centers were also destroyed, he added, with no reported casualties.
The fire was brought under control within three hours and the authorities ordered an investigation to determine the circumstances under which the fire started.
Fires are common in the camps, where nearly a million Rohingya refugees live in precarious conditions.
Most of them fled military repression in Burma in 2017 and sought refuge in Bangladesh.
A Bangladesh Defense Ministry report last month said there had been 222 fires in Rohingya camps between January 2021 and December 2022, including 60 arson attacks.
In March 2021, one such fire killed 15 people and left around 50,000 homeless.