A classroom meant to offer hope became the scene of heartbreak within seconds. As relentless monsoon rains continue to pound Bangladesh, vulnerable refugee families are once again paying the highest price.
At least eight people, including seven young students and a teacher, have been killed after a landslide buried an Islamic girls’ study centre inside the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
The tragedy unfolded on Wednesday afternoon when heavy rains triggered a mass of mud and debris that swept through the school, trapping children and teachers inside. Rescue teams rushed to the scene, digging frantically through the mud in search of survivors, though officials say it remains unclear how many people were inside the building when it collapsed.
According to Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, rescuers managed to pull 13 people from the wreckage. Eight of them later died from their injuries, while five children were taken to hospital for treatment.
“Some of them are seven, eight, 11 or 12 years old,” local district official Panna Akhter told BBC Bangla, highlighting the young age of many of the victims.
The latest disaster comes after days of relentless monsoon rainfall that has battered Bangladesh since Sunday, triggering multiple landslides across Cox’s Bazar. Earlier this week, officials confirmed that at least eight other Rohingya refugees, including five children, had also died in separate landslides.
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Cox’s Bazar is home to more than one million Rohingya refugees, making it the world’s largest refugee settlement. Most fled neighbouring Myanmar in 2017 after a brutal military crackdown that killed thousands and forced more than 700,000 people across the border.
Today, many Rohingya families live in fragile shelters built from bamboo and tarpaulin on unstable hillsides, leaving them especially vulnerable during Bangladesh’s annual monsoon season.
The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim minority, remain stateless after Myanmar denied them citizenship for decades, leaving many with little prospect of returning home safely.
Weather officials have warned that more heavy rainfall is expected in the coming days, raising fears of additional landslides and flash floods. Authorities have already begun evacuating families living in high-risk areas as emergency teams remain on alert.
For thousands of refugee families already displaced by conflict, the disaster is another painful reminder that even after escaping war, danger continues to follow them.
