Fire at Rohingya camp in Bangladesh leaves refugees homeless

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — A massive fire at a crammed refugee camp for Rohingya Muslims in southern Bangladesh has left thousands of the refugees homeless. No casualties have been reported at Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar district. The UNHCR in Bangladesh said in a tweet that Rohingya refugee volunteers responded to the fire on Sunday with the agency and its partners providing support. More than 1 million Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar over several decades, including about 740,000 who crossed the border starting in August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown. Conditions in Myanmar have worsened since a military takeover in 2021, and attempts to send the refugees back have failed.