Rohingya camp destroyed

COX’S BAZAR: A huge fire swept through the Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh on Thursday, the United Nations said, destroying homes belonging to thousands of people.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said more than 550 shelters home to around 3500 people were totally or partly destroyed in the blaze, as well as 150 shops and a facility belonging to a nonprofit organisation.

Photographs and video provided by a Rohingya refugee in Nayapara Camp showed families including children, sifting through charred corrugated iron sheets to see if they could salvage anything from their still smouldering homes. But little remained of the camp, which had stood for decades.

UNHCR said it was providing aid and medical care for the refugees displaced from the camp in southeastern Bangladesh. — Reuters