At least five children lost their lives Wednesday when a landslide fueled by monsoon rains crashed through an Islamic school inside a Rohingya refugee camp in the Cox’s Bazar district of southeastern Bangladesh, according to a local fire official.
The camp is home to more than one million refugees. Dollar Tripura, the area’s top fire and civil defense official, confirmed that the landslide struck while children were in the middle of their classes.
Tripura said rescuers were able to pull five additional children from the rubble with injuries, though officials feared more victims could still be trapped beneath the debris.
Search and rescue efforts were still underway as of Wednesday evening.
The tragedy follows a separate series of landslides just three days prior, which claimed the lives of at least eight people at other Rohingya camps in the same region.
Weather forecasters in the nation’s capital, Dhaka, warned that additional rainfall is expected over the coming days.
Officials said they have been working to move refugees away from dangerous hillside areas, with more than 1,000 people already relocated. However, authorities noted that many refugees are hesitant to abandon their temporary shelters, even when warned of the risks.
Bangladesh has long called on the international community to support efforts to return Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, but that repatriation process remains at a standstill.
