Five Rohingya refugees die in Bangladesh school collapse after landslide

A landslide triggered by heavy rains caused a school to collapse in a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, killing at least five people, including four children. The madrasa, an Islamic school for girls run by community members, was packed with 20 to 22 people when it crumbled.

One person died at the scene, and four others succumbed to their injuries after being taken to different hospitals within the camp. The victims included a teacher and four students, according to Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner. Eight others were injured and evacuated to medical facilities.

In response to the disaster and forecasts of continued torrential downpours, authorities have ordered the closure of all schools in the camps starting Thursday. The collapse occurred around 2:30 p.m. local time in Camp 5, two days after similar landslides in Cox's Bazar claimed at least ten lives.

Cox's Bazar, the world's largest refugee settlement, hosts hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled violence in Myanmar in 2017. The precarious conditions of the shelters, mostly built from bamboo and plastic sheeting, make incidents like this tragically common. Authorities have relocated 20,000 people from vulnerable areas since the current rainy season began.