Two Syrian children died in fire in Zaatari refugee camp

AMMAN, (ST) _ Two Syrian children died after fire destroyed one of the tents of displaced Syrians in Zaatari refugee camp yesterday in an incident frequently repeated inside the camp, which lacks basic requirements for human life.

AFP quoted director of Mafraq Hospital Asmir Almhakbh as saying that a one year old Syrian child and his sister, aged two-and-a-half died while three members of their family, the father, mother and a sister have severe burns after a fire broke out in their tent in the Zaatari refugee camp in Mafraq Governorate, northern Jordan near the Syrian border.

According to a source in the Jordanian Civil Defense, the fire was caused by a candle lit children were playing with.

Earlier, Zaatari camp, which the Jordanian authorities did not bother to provide proper accommodation witnessed similar fire incidents, resulted in burning 35 last year without causing serious injuries.

Displaced Syrians,who were forced to leave their areas in Syria as a result of the armed groups terrorism and criminality face tragic circumstances in al-Zaatari camp, which is described by observers and the displaced themselves as “huge prison”, lacks minimum health requirements and Human Services, as well as the deterioration of the psychological status of its occupants in light the blockade imposed by the Jordanian authorities.

The Syrian government has called on citizens who left the country to return back and vowed to provide them with homes or in temporary accommodation, a matter  encouraged many of them to return to their homeland.

T. Fateh