In a short time, the flames engulfed thousands of primitive tent dwellings, built of bamboo and tarpaulins.
The fire on Sunday spread quickly in the extremely densely populated camp in Cox's Bazar, where a total of just under a million refugees live.
The fire was under control after a few hours but at least 16,000 people have been affected, and around 6,000 children are left homeless.
About 20 people are still missing.
- Children sleep with only plastic bags as protection, says Ezatullah Majeed, head of Unicef's field office in the camp, to SVT Nyheter on Tuesday.
"Have lost everything"
The camp mainly houses Rohingya who fled oppression and persecution in Myanmar.
- Many of the refugees had their homes burned down in Myanmar and only owned a few clothes and a mobile phone.
Now they have lost everything.
Although it is possible to quickly rebuild the tents, they have lost the little security they had, says Daniel Aftonfalk, disaster manager at the Swedish Red Cross, which helps with water purification and reconstruction, among other things.
He himself was in the camp last November.
By then, the residents had recovered from the giant fire of 2021.
Volunteers practice firefighting
According to the Red Cross, the risk of more fires is high.
Right now it is also a dry season with strong winds, which increases the risks.
According to Amnesty International, hundreds of fire incidents have occurred since 2021 alone, and the organization therefore wants to see more measures to reduce the risk of fire.
- Smaller fires occur from time to time and it is something we have worked with on site to deal with.
Volunteers have received training in putting out fires and some fire equipment has been deployed.
Some have been able to start using gas for cooking instead of wood burning in the tents, which reduces the risks somewhat, says Daniel Aftonfalk.
The cause of the fire is still unclear and is being investigated.
No casualties have yet been reported.