At least one child has been confirmed dead after a big fire engulfed a camp for Syrian refugees in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Sunday, July 2, the Red Cross said.
According to Aljazeera, flames and thick clouds of black smoke rose on Sunday from the site near the town of Qab Elias, which is an hour’s drive from the capital Beirut.
The blaze which destroyed over 100 tents in the refugee camp, left at least six people injured.
Ahmed Salloum, of the emergency services in Qab Elias, says the fire turned the tent camp into “ashes,” with only the bathrooms at the edge of the settlement left standing, while George Ketteneh of Lebanon’s Red Cross says initial reports indicate more than 100 tents were burned and one person died.
Lebanon is hosting at least 1 million registered Syrian refugees, many of them living in informal tented settlements scattered around the country, though the government says the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is closer to 1.5 million.
Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this report, the cause of the blaze was yet to be asertained.
Details later:…………………………..
