Three dead as fire razes 600 homes in Borno IDP camp

Three persons, including an infant, were killed in a fire disaster on Tuesday that destroyed about 600 homes in an internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camp in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The chairperson of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Yabawa Kolo, disclosed this on Wednesday.

“We lost three lives in the unfortunate fire outbreak. Two adults and an infant were burnt in the fire,”Mrs Kolo said..

“About 600 shelters which make up a household were burnt down in the two outbreaks that occurred on Tuesday.”

She said about 3,600 IDPS were affected by the inferno.

SEMA officials visited the camp Wednesday afternoon to sympathise with the affected persons, most of whom passed the night in the harmatan cold.

IDPs at the camp said many of had been taken to the hospital after they suffered burns in the incident.

The SEMA chairperson said the government would soon take food and non-food relief items to the camp.

She blamed the incessant outbreak of fire in the camps on IDPs who she said usually cook their meals in the makeshift tents.

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Our reporter observed the IDPs sitting helplessly within the charred remains of the spot that was once their homes.

Many of them expressed worries over the delay in the arrival of relief items from the state government.

“After the fire outbreak, most of us, especially the women and children slept out in the cold harmattan,” said Ibrahim Kolo, an IDP at the camp.

“The fire outbreak happened at about 12.30 p.m. yesterday. We lost everything, especially food.

“But here we are, more than 24 hours after, not a single relief item has been brought to us. I fear that we may be heading for yet another cold night of hunger,” he said.