Arakan News Agency
A massive fire broke out in Rohingya Refugee Camp No. 16 in Cox’s Bazar in the early hours of Tuesday, destroying dozens of shelters, according to preliminary local estimates, and causing panic among refugees who were asleep at the time.
According to The Territorial News (TTN), citing local residents and fire officials, the fire started around 3:00 a.m. inside an educational center run by BRAC within the camp, before spreading to nearby shelters.
Ukhia Fire Service and Civil Defense Station Officer Dollar Tripura said authorities immediately dispatched two fire units to the scene, noting that efforts to control the blaze are ongoing.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire, as refugees continue to express concerns about fire safety, overcrowding, and the lack of adequate preventive measures within the camps.
This latest fire comes amid a series of similar incidents in Rohingya camps, including a fire that broke out in a health center in Camp 4 in the Ukhia area last December, and a massive fire in Camp 24 that completely destroyed around 50 shelters and injured two children.
A fire in Camp 7 in the Kutupalong Rohingya area was also brought under control without injuries, while another fire broke out in Camp 4 last April and was contained quickly by the camp’s fire team with the help of volunteers, again with no injuries reported.
Days earlier, a massive fire broke out in Camp 22, causing extensive property damage by destroying nine shops run by Rohingya, as well as a fire in Camp 9 last February due to a solar battery explosion, which partially destroyed two shelters.
More than one million Rohingya refugees live in camps in the Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh, which the United Nations classifies as the largest refugee camp in the world. They fled Myanmar over recent years following a systematic campaign of genocide carried out by the Myanmar military since 2017.
