At least one person has been killed in a fire in a camp for internally displaced persons in the Iraqi province of Erbil, located in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, officials have confirmed.
Bahrka camp supervisor Arif Abdullah said the fire was reported at around 8 p.m. local time on Sunday, adding that it destroyed five caravans at the facility, which hosts IDPs from the northern province of Nineveh.
The deceased from the fire, allegedly caused by a short circuit, has been identified as Abdullah Raiq, 17 years old and displaced from the city of Mosul, as reported by the Kurdish television channel Rudaw.
Abdullah has lamented the shortage of services in the camp and said that the authorities have not delivered fuel for heaters before the onset of winter, leading to the use of appliances that the electrical system can not withstand the excess load.
The Bahrka camp hosts more than 4,700 people, including 1,300 minors, according to data provided in May by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Incidents like the one recorded this Sunday are relatively common in displaced persons camps in Iraq.
