Fire kills five at Syrian refugee camp in eastern Lebanon
At least five people, including four children, have lost their lives when a massive fire engulfed dozens of tents at a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley.
Lebanese security sources, requesting anonymity, said the Monday blaze burned at least 160 of the roughly 300 tents put up in the town of al-Marj, 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the capital, Beirut.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. A source identified the victims as an elderly man and four children.
"The bodies were totally burned and cannot be recognized. Some are children," another security source noted.
More than 1.1 million Syrian refugees are currently taking shelter in Lebanon. The influx of Syrian refugees is exerting huge pressure on Lebanon’s poor infrastructure, education and health systems.
On April 15, the United Nations called upon the international community to intensify efforts to alleviate the sufferings of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
“The equivalent of what we have in Lebanon in the United States would be [equivalent to] more than 80 million refugees coming into the United States,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres said.
“You can understand that this has a terrible impact on the economy and society of Lebanon,” he noted.
Syria has been plagued by a deadly crisis fueled by Takfiri groups since March 2011. More than 222,000 people have so far been killed in the conflict, according to the UK-based monitoring group.
Over 3.8 million Syrians have also fled the violence to neighboring countries, namely Jordan and Lebanon, and more than 7.2 million others have become internally displaced, according to the United Nations.
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