Children between the ages of 3 and 8 were present in the camp for thousands of Syrian refugees who have sought shelter in the Derik district of Mardin province. Firefighters rushed to the scene after a large number of tents caught fire. Flames engulfing the camp were extinguished after intense efforts. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, although a local news agency said an overheating oven which was left on caused the blaze.
Doğan News Agency reported the fire erupted only four days after another fire gutted 21 tents in the camp and killed a child.
Turkey hosts more than 272,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees in 26 camps located in country's border towns with Syria, where an ongoing conflict left hundreds of thousands of people displaced. Derik camp hosts 8,970 refugees according to figures by Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the state-run agency administering the camps.
