Thaindian News

Agartala, March 20 (IANS) The Tripura government late Sunday ordered a magisterial inquiry into Saturday’s fire that devastated a refugee camp in the state’s north, killing 16 people and leaving 15,000 homeless, officials said.

“North Tripura district magistrate and collector Soumya Gupta would inquire the incident,” a senior official told reporters. The affected include 1,400 children.

According to the official, relief camps have been set up to accommode Reang tribals, sheltered in North Tripura’s Naishing Para Reang refugee camp for the past 14 years after fleeing ethnic clashes in Mizoram.

According to officials, at least 16 people, including four children and eight women, were burnt to death when the fire ravaged the camp.

Media reports and unofficial sources put the toll at 25.

More than 20 people suffered burn injuries and over 2,500 huts, made of bamboo, weeds and polythene sheets were reduced to ashes in the camp, 165 km north of here.

“The state government has sanctioned Rs.5,000,000 for providing relief to the affected,” the official said.

“Cooked food is being provided to all the affected people till they set up their huts in the mountainous area,” the official stated.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Social Welfare Minister Bijita Nath and Director General of Police K. Saleem Ali Sunday visited the spot.

Over 34,000 Reang tribals, locally called Bru, have been living in six camps in Kanchanpur since 1997. They fled western Mizoram after ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos following the killing of a Mizo forest official.