A major fire broke out at the only Rohingya camp in the national Capital in South-East Delhi's Kanchan Kunj area in the wee hours of Sunday. One man, Vikas Kumar, who was sleeping in a garage adjacent to the camp, suffered burn injuries to the hand and has been admitted to a private hospital. They lost all their documents and identity cards. "Three cylinders also exploded during the rescue operation by police and fire department officials", said a police officer.
NGO's and the local people have extended help to Rohingya Muslims.
The fire broke out around 3.30 am due to a short circuit in the electrical wiring system in the camp and spread rapidly, police said.
About 230 people were staying in the camp. "It took nearly four hours to douse the fire in the camp where the families reside".
Residents said they were woken up by the cries of people and when they emerged from their tents they saw massive flames enveloping the area.
Most of the houses were built of plywoods, card-boards and plastic, which are highly combustible and hence the fire spread wild. We could could barely get enough time to get ut belongings. The camp, established in 2012 at Madanpur Khadar area of Kalindi Kunj, has seen four incidents of fire since - in 2012, 2016, 2017 and now in 2018. "We live here for six years", he added.
DCP (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said police teams reached the area soon after the fire and were still providing the residents with basic necessities when reports last came in. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, the police said, however, it suggested that fire could have broken out from a nearby office building of the refugee camp.