Dhaka: Authorities in Bangladesh have launched an investigation into the events that preceded the Sunday inferno at a Rohingya refugee camp that destroyed about 2,000 shelters and made thousands of people homeless.
According to local media, one man has been detained in relation to the fire. It is believed that this man is a refugee. Police are trying to determine whether or not the blaze was started "as an act of sabotage," according to Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, the chairman of Bangladesh's Refugee Relief Repatriation Commissioner.
"About 2,000 shelters have been burned, leaving about 12,000 Myanmar nationals who were forcibly displaced without shelter," Rahman told the AFP.
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Although the cause of the fire, which broke out at 2:45 p.m. local time on Sunday, is still unknown, it is believed to have spread quickly thanks to kitchen gas cylinders and tarpaulin shelters. The fire was brought under control after three hours with no reports of casualties.
The camp for refugees in the southeast of the nation is thought to be the biggest of its kind. On Sunday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) tweeted that the fire had destroyed 90 facilities, including hospitals and educational facilities. Additionally, it was reported that 35 mosques had been destroyed or damaged.
Authorities in Bangladesh are collaborating with local and international aid organizations to provide food and makeshift housing to those affected by the fire.
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Today's massive fire will have robbed many families of their safety and what little belongings they have left," the humanitarian organization 'Save the Children' stated on Sunday. They still struggle with a lack of education, alarming rates of stunting, malnutrition, child marriage, and child labor.
According to information made public by the nation's defense ministry last month, there were 222 fires that had an impact on Rohingya refugee camps between January 2021 and December 2022. 60 arson incidents were among them. A fire at the settlement claimed the lives of at least 15 people in March 2021.
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The camp provides Rohingya refugees with temporary housing after they fled Myanmar in the wake of a crackdown on the Muslim ethnic minority in the nation in 2017.