Child killed in West Darfur shelter blaze

A child has died, others suffered burns and injuries, and displaced people have lost what little they had, in a major fire that broke out early on Saturday morning at a shelter centre for the displaced in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur.

The community sheikh of El Hahra Centre, Mohanned Sabuka, confirmed that the child, Murtada Sadiq Abdekarim (13), died as a result of the fire broke out at 02:00. Two other residents of the centre suffered from burn wounds.

The sheikh said that El Geneina Fire Department responded to the blaze with three engines, and managed to extinguish it, however the cause of the inferno has not been determined. The fire also killed several livestock, but that the actual material losses are still being assessed.

Sheik Sabuka pointed out that there are 593 families representing more than 4,000 individuals in the Shelter Centre for the Displaced in El Zahraa School, and they live under extremely difficult humanitarian conditions and severe suffering due to poor planning and organisation with overcrowding.

The repeated attacks on villages around Jebel Moon in West Darfur during the past weeks has amounted to a death toll of 36 people and triggered a large number of people to be displaced in the region.