At least one person has died and 20 others have been injured in a fire at an internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in Maiduguri’s Kaleri neighborhood.
According to sources, the fire started at about 1 p.m., just before Juma’at prayers, and burned over 100 IDP homes, leaving many homeless.
The dead and injured have been taken to a hospital in Maiduguri, according to the source, while a joint team of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) is on the ground assessing the extent of the camp’s destruction.
Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, the Director-General of SEMA, verified the event.
Meanwhile, Senior Information Officer, NEMA North-East, Abdul Ibrahim provided an update on the situation, confirming one person deceased and an indeterminate number of IDPs injured.
“Update on the fire incident in Kalari Muna Elbadawy camp in Maiduguri,” he stated. One person was killed, and an unknown number of internally displaced people were injured.
“The fire department was dispatched and quickly brought the situation under control.” The fire is thought to have been started by a cooking fire in one of the shelters. The injured individuals were treated by officials from NEMA, BOSEMA, the Nigerian Red Cross, and other stakeholders. The incident occurred at 1:30 p.m. “More than a hundred shelters have been destroyed.”