February 19, (THEWILL) – A fire outbreak at an internally displaced persons (IDPs ) camp in Kaleri area of Maiduguri, has killed at least one person and injured 20 others.
The fire, which according to sources started around 1pm before the Juma’at prayers, equally razed down over 100 homes of the IDPs, rendering many homeless.
The source added that the dead and the injured have been evacuated to an hospital in Maiduguri, while a combined team of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), were on ground to assess the extent of destruction in the camp.
The Director General of SEMA, Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, confirmed the incident.
Meanwhile, an update on the incident by Senior information Officer, NEMA North-East, Abdul Ibrahim, confirmed one person dead with unspecified number of IDPs injured.
He said: “Update on fire incident at Kalari Muna Elbadawy camp Maiduguri. One person died with an unspecified number of internally displaced persons injured.
“The fire service were on hand and brought the situation under control.
“The fire is believed to be caused by cooking fire from one of the shelters. Officials of NEMA, BOSEMA, Nigerian Red Cross and other stakeholders have administered first aid to the injured victims. Time of incident 1:30pm. Over one hundred shelters destroyed.”
