Children killed in large fires, North Darfur

A fire in a village south of El Fasher resulted in the death of two children and burned the full contents of 225 houses on Friday.

The fire broke out at in Abureka, south of El Fasher, at 2pm on Friday. Hawa Ibrahim Yagoub (7) and Mahjoub Mukhtar (8) burned to death. Twelve villagers were wounded.

A total of 225 houses were gutted by the fire. Also a large number of livestock was killed, but their number could not yet be verified by witnesses.

“The fire also caused heavy damage to agricultural crops and properties, valued at thousands of Sudanese pounds,” a witness told Radio Dabanga. He said that people hope local authorities and organisations can come to their aid.

Camp fire

In another fire in Nevasha, a site for displaced people in Assalam, north of El Fasher city, dozens of shops in the local market were engulfed in flames when a fire erupted. More details of this incident are yet to be verified.

A series of fires in three camps in Garsila, Central Darfur destroyed dozens of homes last week. More large fires are reported in Darfur in this time of year, when the wind easily spreads flames – for example from cooking fires – through the dry grass and roofs. A shortage of fire-fighting equipment exacerbates the damage.