Fire at Burma refugee camp in Thailand leaves thousands homeless

2012-02-24 11:19:41 GMT+7 (ICT)

BANGKOK (BNO NEWS) -- A fire broke out on Thursday at a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand, leaving thousands of people homeless, authorities said.

The blaze started at around 10:30 a.m. and quickly swept through at least five quarters of Umpiem Mai refugee camp in Tak Province near the Thai-Burma border. The fire, swept along by the wind, spread through the camp and was still burning in late afternoon, Mizzima News reported.

The refugee camp is home to around 17,600 people. No deaths have been reported, but some children received burns in the fire.

Most of the houses in refugee camps are built of wood, bamboo and thatch. Several mosques, schools and markets were also destroyed.

"Because of the wind, it spread quickly," a survivor told Mizzima. "People, together with their children, ran helter-skelter toward open fields where there was safety. They couldn't carry anything."

The cause of the fire is still unknown. Fire officials and camp residents were still searching the debris and conducting an investigation.

The refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border house more than 140,000 people, according to the Thai Burma Border Consortium. Many of them fled ethnic conflict zones and have lived in the camps for decades.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-02-24

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