At least fifteen people have been killed and 400 are missing after a huge fire destroyed shanty homes of tens of thousands of Rohingya in the biggest refugee settlement in Bangladesh.
According to police and aid groups, the fire broke out Monday and left at least 50,000 people homeless ripping through their flimsy bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelters.
Also, Johannes Van der Klaauw, the UN Refugee Agency’s representative in Bangladesh, said that so far it has confirmed 15 people dead, 560 injured, 400 missing and at least 10,000 shelters destroyed.
Officials said the blaze appeared to have started in one of the 34 camps which span about 3,200 hectares of land before spreading rapidly to three other sites despite desperate efforts to put out the flames.
Bangladesh has already ordered a probe into the devastating blaze which is the latest in recent weeks and the biggest since 2017.
Meanwhile the UN’s International Organization for Migration has pledged $1 million to relief efforts but a further $20 million would be required to react to the most urgent needs.
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