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Thursday April 18, 2024

Refugee camp burned down in Bosnia

By AFP
December 24, 2020

SARAJEVO: A refugee camp in Bosnia criticised for its bleak conditions was destroyed in a fire on Wednesday, police said, as the country faces a repeat crisis over where to shelter migrants during winter.

Police said they believe the blaze was lit by former residents of the camp, most of whom were thought to have evacuated the site in advance. There were no casualties or injuries, but the infrastructure of the site near the northwestern village of Lipa was destroyed, police spokesperson Ale Siljdedic told AFP. "Firefighters managed to put it out, but all the four large tents in which the migrants had slept burned down," Siljdedic said.

The fire comes as local authorities are in a deadlock over where to shelter more than 3,000 refugees and migrants in the northwest Bihac region, a base for those making attempts to enter neighbouring EU member Croatia.