Investigators probing the Rohingya camp fire that happened earlier this month have concluded that it was a “planned and purposeful act of sabotage”. The March 5 blaze ripped through the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh, destroying 2,800 shelters and leaving 15,000 Rohingya refugees homeless. There were no casualties reported from the incident. A seven-person panel was formed to probe the tragic incident.
“The fire was a planned act of sabotage,” senior district government official Abu Sufian, head of the seven-member probe committee, said.
Sufian, who led the probe, said that “militant groups” started the fire to “dominate” the camps. He added that investigators found that fires started in several places in the Cox Bazaar camp at the same time, which proves that it was a planned incident. It affected more than 90 facilities homes, schools, medical clinics and service points.
The probe group interviewed over 150 people to understand what led to the massive fire. It has also recommended that further investigation is needed to identify the perpetrators.
“We recommended further investigation by the law-enforcing agency to identify the groups behind the incident,” he said.
The panel also said that to avoid future fires, a separate fire service unit should be set up for the Rohingya camps. It further recommended the widening of each block of Rohingya camp to accommodate fire service vehicles. Water cisterns should be constructed and the camps should use less flammable materials in shelters, it said.
About the Rohingya camp fire
The probe panel report said that the fire broke out at 2:30 pm local time in Camp 11 of Cox Bazaar in south-eastern Bangladesh and was brought under control by evening. More than one million Rohingya refugees live in tens of thousands of huts in the camps. These huts are made of bamboo and thin plastic sheeting in camps in the border district of Cox’s Bazaar.
(With inputs from agencies)
