Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Two children sustained varying injuries and dozens of families were displaced late Sunday night after a massive fire swept through Rohingya refugee Camp 24 in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, causing extensive destruction to shelters and educational facilities.
An Arakan News Agency correspondent reported that the fire, which broke out late at night, completely destroyed around 50 shelters and damaged several nearby tents, leaving affected families homeless after losing all their belongings, including food supplies, clothing, and personal documents.
The correspondent added that the fire also damaged two learning centres and several Quranic schools, dealing a serious blow to the already limited educational services available inside the camp.
The two injured children were transferred to the camp’s administrative medical centre to receive emergency treatment. No fatalities have been reported so far, despite the scale and rapid spread of the blaze, which was fueled by the highly flammable materials used in the construction of the shelters.
The fire reportedly started at around 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, with initial indications suggesting it was caused by nighttime cooking activities, a persistent hazard in the densely populated camps.
Volunteers and emergency response teams worked together to bring the fire under control and prevent it from spreading to neighboring sections. Meanwhile, affected families issued urgent appeals for emergency shelter, food assistance, and immediate medical and psychological support.
The incident once again highlights the urgent need to strengthen fire safety measures and provide safer cooking alternatives in the camps to prevent the recurrence of such humanitarian tragedies.
The fire comes amid dire humanitarian conditions faced by Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar camps, which are characterized by severe overcrowding, weak infrastructure, and a high risk of fires, particularly during dry and windy periods.
More than one million Rohingya refugees currently live in these camps, forming the largest refugee settlement in a single location worldwide. The largest wave of displacement dates back to August 2017, when hundreds of thousands fled Arakan State in western Myanmar following a military campaign by the Myanmar army, which the United Nations and international organizations have described as ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Since then, Rohingya refugees have been living in overcrowded camps under extremely fragile humanitarian conditions, relying almost entirely on international aid, amid the absence of any political solution that guarantees their safe, voluntary, and dignified return to their homeland.
