Fire in camp’s school in Syria’s Raqqa causes injuries to children
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Farida Rasho was doing the laundry and housework in her tent in Tel al-Samen camp north of Raqqa, northern Syria, after sending her child to school and her husband and children to work.
As the woman, who is an IDP from the city of Tel Abyad north of Raqqa, was doing the housework, she heard shouts and wailing, and saw smoke, however, she did not care.
While telling North Press that she was told the fire had broken out in the camp’s school, where her daughter Vian Muhammad was, she burst into tears.
The 11-year-old child has sustained 2nd-degree burns and she is now in Raqqa National Hospital.
On December 6, 11 children sustained burns as a result of fire that broke out in a school in Tel al-Samen camp.
The blaze was caused after a fuel-fired stove turned upside down while many children were gathered around it, torching the tent which was turned to a classroom in the camp.
Two days later, a female child died from burns as she had sustained 3rd-dergree burns in all parts of her body, in addition to having respiratory problems due to the amount of smoke she inhaled.
“Children are little and know nothing. When the fire broke out, they [children] caught the tent’s cover which is made of plastic,” the mother said as she was trying to hold her tears back.
Vian studies at a school made of plastic that does not protect children from summer heat or winter cold.
Rasho said her child shouted for help but the blaze was faster than her shouts, as the tent melted on her body, burning her face, back and arms.
“My child lost the ability to move or open her eyes,” she said sorrowfully, “We have been suffering from war and fear since we were displaced, and now we are losing our children in front of our eyes.”
In Tel al-Samen camp, there are 6.621 IDPs, making 1.261 families, mostly elderly people, women and children, as the vast majority of them come from areas of Tel Abyad and its countryside who were displaced during the Turkish military operation on Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad in 2019.
Rasho, who could not hide her tears while watching her child screaming out of pain, said, “War is cursed, as it burnt children’s bodies, faces, innocent dreams, their present and future.”
“If we were at our houses, this would not happen because schools in our cities cannot be compared to the plastic tents,” she added.
In August, two children lost their lives and five other IDPs were injured in a fire broke out in Washokani camp in the western countryside of Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria.
Incidents of fires inside camps in northeast Syria are popular and dangerous due to the closeness of tents to each other and the difficulty of putting them out, as they are highly flammable because tents are made of plastic and fabrics.
The mother called for securing prefabricated classrooms to protect other children from similar tragedies and put responsibility of taking care of children on the shoulders of teachers.