Massive fire at Rohingya camp in Delhi

A massive fire at a camp of the Rohingya refugees in southeast Delhi's Kalindi Kunj area today rendered at least 228 of them homeless, police said.

The fire broke out at around 3.30am due to a short circuit in the electrical wiring system in the camp and spread rapidly, police said. As many as 44 shanties were gutted in the blaze.

No casualties were reported.

A fire department official said 11 fire tenders were rushed to the camp and it took them three hours to douse the fire.

Police teams were sent to the camp to assist the fire-fighters in the rescue operation. All the Rohingya occupants of the camp have been moved safely to a temporary settlement, police said.

A forensic team and officials from power discom BSES visited the camp to ascertain the cause of the fire.

The Rohingya are an ethnic group, the majority of whom are Muslim, who have lived for centuries in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Myanmar has denied them citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless.