11 children injured in fire at IDP camp in Syria’s Raqqa province

Eleven children were injured, some seriously, on Tuesday when a fire broke out at a school in an internally displaced people’s camp in Raqqa province in northern Syria.

The fire was caused by an overturned heater in a makeshift elementary school classroom in the Tal Al-Samn refugee camp north of Raqqa, a correspondent for the Syrian Nahr Media news site said.

The injured children were taken to hospitals in Raqqa city.

Fires at refugee camps in Syria are a common occurrence, with hundreds breaking out this year. Dozens of people have been killed and injured as a result.

In addition to the refugee camps being constructed from flammable materials, fuel oil used in the camps is of poor quality and contains a high percentage of incendiary substances.

Last July, Mark Cutts, the UN’s Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria called for the international community to provide more funding to ensure safer living conditions in displaced people’s camps in Syria.

An estimated seven million people have been internally displaced as a result of the Syrian conflict with another six million fleeing abroad.