A fire that broke out in a Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh in the early hours of today destroyed about 800 makeshift homes and left thousands homelessofficials announced.

Fire officials and Rohingya volunteers brought the fire under control after about three hours after it broke out in Camp Number 5 of Cox’s Bazar, a border area with Myanmar, around 0100 local time.

Apart from shelters, many other structures – such as education centers – were destroyed, said Commissioner of Repatriation and Refugee Care in Cox’s Bazar, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, adding that there were no casualties.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said nearly 7,000 people were left homeless by the fire and about 120 facilities, including health centers and mosques, were destroyed.

“We have made all the moves…they have been provided with food and temporary shelter,” said Mohammed Shamsud Duza, a government official in charge of the refugees.

Nearly a million members of Myanmar’s Muslim minority live crammed into shelters made of bamboo canes and plastic in the Cox’s Bazar district on the border with Bangladesh, and most of them fled there in 2017 to escape a military crackdown. .

“The cause of the fire currently remains unknown and government authorities have assured us that an investigation will be carried out,” UNHCR said.

Fires often break out in these makeshift camps. A large fire in March 2021 resulted in the deaths of at least 15 refugees and the destruction of over 10,000 homes.

Last year nearly 12,000 people were left homeless after fire destroyed nearly 2,800 shelters and more than 90 structures, including hospitals and education centers. A commission of inquiry ruled that it was a “premeditated act of sabotage”.