Massive Fire at Rohingya Refugee Camp in Bangladesh Leaves Many without Shelter (+Video)

The blaze destroyed the bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelters, leaving thousands without homes again. The refugees fled to Bangladesh after a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.

Bangladesh's refugee commissioner, Mijanur Rahman, stated that the fire displaced about 12,000 Rohingya Muslims. However, there were no reports of any injuries or casualties, according to additional police superintendent at Cox’s Bazar, Rafiqul Islam. He added that the fire was under control, and officials from the fire, police, and refugee relief departments were at the site. The cause of the fire remains unclear, according to local police official Faruque Ahmed, according to the Guardian.

At least 35 mosques and 21 learning centres for the refugees were also destroyed, according to Ahmed. The UNHCR in Bangladesh stated that Rohingya refugee volunteers were responding to the fire with support from the agency and its partners.

However, the agency provided no further details. The refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar are prone to fires, with 222 incidents occurring between January 2021 and December 2022, according to a report by Bangladesh's defence ministry. Sixty of these incidents were due to arson.

Rohingya refugee Selim Ullah, a father of six children, stated that he "couldn't save anything" and that "many are without homes." The Rohingya refugees have faced similar problems in Myanmar, where they have been subjected to discrimination and denied citizenship, according to Ullah.

More than a million Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar over several decades, with 740,000 crossing the border after the 2017 crackdown. Despite the worsening conditions in Myanmar after the military takeover in 2021, attempts to repatriate the refugees have been unsuccessful.