Dhaka, Apr 2 (EFE) .- At least three Rohingya died this Friday in a fire in a market near refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, in a new incident of this type after the fire last week that left fifteen killed and razed 10,000 huts.
The fire broke out at dawn in a market near the overcrowded Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar, home to more than 600,000 Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh from neighboring Burma (Myanmar), especially after the wave of violence unleashed against this minority by the Burmese Army in August 2017.
“The fire destroyed seven stores in the market. We found three bodies inside. They were probably employees of the stores,” the deputy deputy director of the Cox’s Bazar Fire and Civil Defense Service, Md Abdullah, told Efe.
The fire services were able to bring the fire under control in a short period of time, thus preventing the fire from spreading, Abdullah explained, noting that the bodies were turned over to the police.
The officer in charge of the Ukhiya Police Station in Cox’s Bazar, Ahmed Sanjur Morshed, confirmed to Efe that all the victims were Rohingya refugees living in the camps.
This is the latest in a series of fires that have affected Rohingya camps in recent months.
Last week a massive fire, which affected some 45,000 refugees, left at least 15 Rohingya dead and 10,000 huts destroyed, according to United Nations data, and also affected schools, health centers and other facilities.
These are places that are vulnerable to fire due to the lack of facilities, their overcrowding, and the fragile wooden, bamboo and plastic huts that cover the area.
In addition, in mid-January a fire left some 3,500 Rohingya homeless after the flames reduced to ashes more than half a thousand huts, and a few days later UNICEF denounced the arson of four educational centers for Rohingya.
These fires occur as controversy continues in Bangladesh over the country’s authorities’ attempt to relocate some 100,000 Rohingya to the remote island of Bhasan Char, with the aim of decongesting the camps, a process that began last December, and that after sending another 4,000 volunteers this week, the total now rises to about 17,000.
Some 738,000 Rohingya arrived in the camps in southeastern Bangladesh after the outbreak in August 2017 of a campaign of persecution and violence by the Burmese army, which the UN described as an example of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, something that the courts are investigating. international
(c) EFE Agency
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