Fire kills 30 in Myanmar refugees camp in Thailand

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About 30 people were killed and dozens injured Friday evening as a blaze raged through a Myanmar refugee camp in northern Thailand, authorities said.

About 100 houses were destroyed in the fire, including a school, a medical clinic and two warehouses storing food, local authorities said in a press briefing following the incident.

Military, police and firefighters were dispatched to the scene and it took them more than two hours to put the blaze under control, they said.

All the injured have been rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, and disaster relief supplies have been handed out to the survivors, they added.

Some local residents and charity groups volunteered to rescue and help the victims.More than 3,500 residents live in the Baan Mae Surin refugee camp, located in Khun Yuam district of Mae Hong Son province. Most of them are Karen refugees from Myanmar.

The cause of the blaze remains unclear. Some sources said it was triggered by a forest fire while others blamed careless cooking by some camp residents.

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