- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Nepal refugee camp fire leaves thousands homeless

Subscribe
MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - More than 10,000 refugees from Bhutan have been left homeless by a blaze that destroyed most of their camp in southeast Nepal, local officials said on Monday.

The fire broke out in the Goldhap refugee camp on Saturday night, razing 80% of the camp to the ground and injuring seven refugees.

The refugees are ethnic Nepalese who were thrown out of Bhutan, a landlocked nation in the Himalayas, during the 1990s.

Only 228 of the 1,500 huts in the camp survived the fire. Local government and non-governmental organizations are taking urgent measures to provide food and temporary shelter. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

"This is a disaster and an absolutely traumatic event for the refugees," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Antonio Guterres, said in a statement.

He said the agency is doing everything possible to provide food and shelter for the camp's residents.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала