Fire at 40 points in forest near Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar; sabotage suspected
Cox’s Bazar Correspondent bdnews24.com
Published: 2018-03-08 20:04:47.0 BdST Updated: 2018-03-08 20:04:47.0 BdST
The authorities suspect an incident is an act of sabotage.
Teknaf Assistant Commissioner (Land) Pronoy Chakma said the Fire Service crew started working to douse the blazes around 2 pm on Thursday.
The Nayaparha and Leda refugee camps, adjacent to the 28-acre reserved forest west of Teknaf Upazila Council, are about a kilometer from the border.
He said the Fire Service workers brought the blazes under control at several places until 4 pm.
“They are trying to control the fire at other places so that those cannot spread to nearby settlements,” he said.
The AC (Land), however, could not confirm the reason behind the fire.
“We in the administration suspect this is an act of sabotage. We are investigating,” he said.
In Bangladesh, the Rohingyas are staying in shanties at the camps at Teknaf and Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar, and Bandarban. Many of them have also taken shelter on government land on hills.
Recently, tension mounted on Ghumdhum border following deployment of additional troops by Myanmar. Later, the border guards of the two sides held a meeting and conducted a joint patrol to ease the tension.