Three children have been burnt to death while some others sustained injuries as 45, 783 internally displaced persons ( IDPs ) were rendered homeless following Tuesday fire incident that engulfed Muna IDPs camp in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
One of the IDPs, Mele Abatcha, who is a father to one of the deceased children, said the fire incident which did not last an hour before destroying the whole camp started around 11am in the morning.
Abatcha appealed to government to come to their aid having lost all including shelter to the fire incident.
“We lost three children to the fire incident. This is my eight years in this camp. We have recorded an incident of fire before in the camp, but the incident of today is the worst we have seen.
“We need shelter, water and other basic and immediate solution to cushion the effect of the disaster,” he said.
Also speaking, Goyi Bana, who hails from Marte Local Government and one of the injured taken to the state specialist hospital for treatment, attributed the cause of the fire outbreak to the dry season wind in the camp which might have blown fire from cooking spot to the grass shelter where they live.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP at the Muna IDPs camp, the Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr Mohammed Barkindo Saidu attributed the likely cause of the fire to the congestion of the camp and the grasses used in making the tents.
Saidu however blamed the congestion of the camp to the attitude of some IDPs who have been resettled but found their way to the camp to benefit from free food and non-food items distributed in the camp.
He said the agency has embarked on immediate assessment of the level of the destruction, as well as providing the IDPs with portable water for drinking and washing.
The SEMA boss added that bread, grains and other food items have also been provided to the IDPs to tackle their immediate needs.
Meanwhile, the three children who died during the fire incident were buried in the camp after a brief funeral prayer.
