At least seven people, including two children, died and around 10,000 shanties reduced to ashes in a devastating fire that swept through the Balukhali Rohingya camp in Ukhiya upazila of Cox’s Bazar on Monday.
Cox's Bazar Fire Service officer Shahadat Hossain confirmed the matter to The Business Post, saying at least 1,000 more were injured while trying to escape the fire in a rush.
The destruction the fire brought left more than 40,000 Rohingyas homeless, added Shahadat Hossain.
The identities of the deceased are yet to be established, police said Tuesday.
The fire erupted at Balukhali East camp around 3:30pm Monday which later spread quickly due to high wind speed.
Sihab Kaisar, assistant superintendent of APBn-8 police, said the fire broke out at camp nos 8 and 9.
On information, seven firefighting units rushed to the spot and contained the blaze around 9:30pm.
The blaze was brought under control around 9:45pm, said Imdadul Huq, a team leader of Ukhiya Fire Service.
Later, the firefighters recovered the charred bodies from the camp.
Besides, offices of some local and foreign NGOs and a police barrack in the camp were gutted in the fire.
The fire is believed to have originated from a gas cylinder explosion.
The Rohingya people, who lost their belongings, have taken shelter on Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf highway, said local UP chairman Gafur Uddin.
Meanwhile, local sources said APBn detained eight young Rohingya men on suspicion of their involvement in the incident.
Members of Fire Service, army, police, Armed Police Battalion (APBn), volunteers of Red Crescent Society and various private organisations worked jointly to douse the devastating fire.
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and Bhashan Char in Noakhali. The majority of them came here in August 2017, fleeing persecution in their homeland Rakhine state in Myanmar.
UNICEF has expressed its deepest sympathy to the Rohingyas affected by Monday's fire in the Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar.
The fire that occurred on Monday already caused "enormous devastation", spreading rapidly through shanties and displacing thousands of people, it says.
