Sunday Times 2
45 dead in Thailand refugee camp fire
View(s):MAE SURIN, Thailand, March 23 (AFP) – The toll from a blaze that swept through a camp in northern Thailand has risen to 45, authorities said Saturday, after hundreds of shelters for refugees from Myanmar were reduced to ashes.
Over 100 people were injured in Friday’s fire, which destroyed about 400 homes at the Mae Surin camp in Mae Hong Son province, Thailand’s Interior Ministry said as it updated the death toll.
Rescue workers were searching for bodies in the wreckage of the shelters at the remote mountainous camp area, according to a spokesman from the provincial authorities.
“All of (the) dead bodies I seen this morning are burnt beyond recognition,” he said, adding that some 2,300 people had been left homeless by the blaze.
Aerial footage of the area shown on Thai television showed huge swathes of the camp completely incinerated.
Authorities believe the fire was sparked by an unattended cooking flame.
A local district official said hot weather, combined with strong winds had caused the fire to spread quickly among the thatched bamboo shelters.
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