15 killed, 400 missing as huge blaze guts Rohingya camp: UN

Massive fire leaves 50,000 people homeless as terrified families flee with whatever they could carry, with distraught children separated from their parents in the rush

Fiteen people have died and 400 are missing after a huge fire destroyed the shanty homes of tens of thousands of Rohingya in the world’s biggest refugee settlement in Bangladesh, the UN said on Tuesday.

Nearly one million of the persecuted Muslim minority — many of whom escaped a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar that UN investigators concluded was executed with “genocidal intent” — live in squalid conditions at the network of camps in the southeastern Cox’s Bazar district.

The fire broke out on Monday and let at least 50,000 people homeless as it ripped through their flimsy bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelters, according to police and aid groups. Terrified families fled with whatever they could carry, with distraught children separated from their parents in the rush.

It was just the latest blaze in recent weeks — and the biggest since 2017. Bangladesh has ordered a probe.

“People ran for their lives as it spread fast. Many were injured and I saw at least four bodies,” said Aminul Haq, a refugee.