UNHCR says 15 dead as massive fire ravages thousands of Rohingya camp homes

At least 15 people have died in a massive fire that ripped through thousands of homes at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, according to the UN’s refugee agency.

More than 560 were injured and an estimated 400 people were still missing, Johannes van der Klaauw, UNHCR representative in Dhaka, said in a statement on Tuesday.

In support of the ongoing response led by the Bangladeshi authorities, the UNHCR, in coordination with IOM and other UN and NGO partners as well as refugee volunteers, is rushing to provide critical support and protection to the Rohingya refugees who lost their shelters and belongings in the devastating blaze.

The blaze destroyed homes of around 45,000 people of over 9,300 families, the government’s Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Md Mohsin said at a press briefing in Cox’s Bazar. He put the death toll at 11.

More than 200 structures of Bangladeshi locals were also damaged in the fire that swept the camp in Ukhiya’s Balukhali for more than five hours on Monday.

A “small” number of people were injured in the disaster, the secretary said at the Office of the Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner. 

“Some might have taken shelter in nearby homes,” he said.

He also said the authorities were investigating to confirm how many people were missing.

Shahdat Hossain, a senior station officer at Cox's Bazar Fire Service, said earlier on Tuesday that the rescuers pulled the bodies of seven Rohingya people from the rubble.

Of them, two were children, two women and three men.

The fire has completely destroyed Camp No. 8 and most parts of three other camps, he said.

An estimated 10,000 homes have been destroyed, according to him.

Officials said the Office of the Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner was working on shelter and food supply for the refugees who have lost their homes.

The disaster management and relief ministry has formed a seven-strong committee to investigate the cause of the fire and assess the damage, said Md Mamunur Rashid, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar district.

Shah Rezwan Hayat, the refugee, relief and repatriation commissioner, is heading the committee.

Ronju Mia, an assistant health official of BRAC, said they treated more than 2,000 injured people at a temporary medical centre at a local high school.

The fire swept through the closely placed shanties fast due to heavy wind, Mohammad Shamsu Douza, additional commissioner of refugee, relief and repatriation.

Video and photographs showed a blaze ripping through the camp. Black smoke billowed over burning shanties and tents as people scrambled to recover their possessions.

More than a million Rohingya live in the camps in southern Bangladesh, the vast majority having fled Myanmar in 2017 from a military-led crackdown that UN investigators said was executed with "genocidal intent", charges Myanmar denies.

Zaifur Hussein, a 50-year-old refugee who escaped the fire but lost his home and was sheltering with friends, said he believed dozens may have been killed and that fencing around the camps made it difficult to flee.

"When we were in Myanmar we faced lots of problems... they destroyed everything," he said. "Now it has happened again."

Snigdha Chakraborty, the Bangladesh director for Catholic Relief Services, said she was worried about the lack of medical facilities in the area.

"Medical facilities are basic and burns require sophisticated treatment, plus hospital beds are already partly taken up with COVID-19 patients," she said. "Most likely there will be fatalities because the fire is so large."

A Rohingya leader in Cox's Bazar, a sliver of land bordering Myanmar in southeastern Bangladesh, said he saw several dead bodies.

"Thousand of huts were totally burned down," Mohammed Nowkhim told Reuters.

Another large blaze tore through the camp in January, destroying homes but causing no casualties.

The risk of fire in the densely populated camps is high, and Monday's blaze was the largest yet, said Onno Van Manen, Country Director of Save the Children in Bangladesh.

"It is another devastating blow to the Rohingya refugees who live here. Just a couple of days ago we lost one of our health facilities in another fire," he said.

The UNHCR said humanitarian partners had mobilised hundreds of volunteers from nearby camps for the support operation, as well as fire safety vehicles and equipment.

[With details from Reuters]