30 shanties, 15 shops gutted in fire at Rohingya camp

Smoke billowing from fire at Rohingya camp in Ukhiya, Conx's Bazar on Friday Feb 25 2022. UNB

Cox’s Bazar, Feb 25 -- A  fire broke out at Rohingya camp-7 in Ukhia upazila of Cox’s Bazar on Friday noon.  

The fire started at 12 pm at a house beside Ukhiya TV Tower of camp-7.

Four units of Ukhia and Cox’s Bazar fire service doused the fire around 4pm, said Sahadat Hossain, senior station officer of Cox’s Bazar Fire Service and Civil Defence office.

No casualties were reported in the fire and the damage could not be estimated immediately, said the fire service official.

How the fire started can be determined after an investigation, he added.

However, Rohingyas in the camp claimed that 30 makeshift houses and 15 shops were gutted in the fire.

Fires in Rohingya camps are not uncommon in the district. On January 9, as many as 600 makeshift houses were gutted in a fire that broke out at Rohingya Camp-16 in the Palangkhali Shafuillakata area of Ukhia.

Another massive fire broke out at a Covid isolation centre in extension-20 of Ukhia Rohingya camp on January 2. Fortunately no casualties were reported in that fire but some 70 hospital beds were charred.

On March 22 last year, as many as 15 people were killed and more than two lakh Rohingya refugees incurred damages as a massive fire broke out at three Rohingya camps in Ukhia, destroying 10,000 houses. - UNB