Rohingya refugees suffer further tragedy after fire makes thousands homeless

Rohingya refugees suffer further tragedy after fire makes thousands homeless
Thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees were made homeless after a fire in a Bangladesh camp on the weekend.
2 min read
More than 700,000 mainly-Muslim Rohingya were forced to flee their homes in Myanmar in 2017 [source: Getty]

More than 12,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees have been left homeless due to a fire that swept through a camp at Cox's Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh, the United Nations said.

The UN Refugee Agency said more than 2,000 shelters and over 90 facilities including hospitals and learning centres were destroyed in Sunday's blaze.

More than one million Rohingya refugees live in camps in Cox's Bazar, most having fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.

Bangladesh is investigating the cause of the fire, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said.

"Once we get the report, it will be clear whether it was an act of sabotage or not," he added.

Fires often break out in the crowded camp with its makeshift structures. A massive blaze in March 2021 killed at least 15 refugees and destroyed over 10,000 homes.

MENA
Live Story

Resident Shafiur Rahman, 24, urged the authorities to provide better facilities. "Our homes were torched in Myanmar. Now we are going through the same here," he said.

Amnesty International also called on the Bangladesh government to provide safer accommodation for the refugees.

"The government should recognise the danger of keeping large communities in unsafe, over-crowded conditions and take steps to provide adequate and safe housing to the Rohingya community,” Yasasmin Kaviratne, the organisation's South Asia regional campaigner said.

Rising crime, difficult living conditions and bleak prospects for returning to Myanmar are driving more Rohingya refugees to leave Bangladesh for countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia by boat, putting their lives at risk. UN data shows 348 Rohingya are thought to have died at sea last year.