Tent fire in Syrian border town kills five children

Si susseguono gli incidenti nei campi dei rifugiati. Per ovviare al grande freddo si accendono fuochi che molto spesso causano violenti incendi. Le tende bruciano velocemente e dilagano causando vittime e feriti gravi. Ancora i bambini sono le vittime. Ieri notte è successo anche ad Atma... il blancio 4 bambini morti.

Five Syrian children, aged between 1 and 6, died at a hospital in Turkey where they had been taken for treatment after a fire broke out in their tent near the Turkish border.
The fire broke out after a gas heater exploded inside the tent, the Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday. Eight people, including five children, were severely injured in the fire on Monday evening. Ambulances were sent to the border to take the injured to the local state hospital in the town of Reyhanlı, Hatay province. The five children died at the hospital early in the morning.

The three other Syrians are still in critical condition, Anatolia said.

This deadly fire follows another that took place in a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey last week. A 2-year-old Syrian boy was killed in that fire, which broke out in a tent city in Ceylanpınar, a town in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa. Four of his siblings were injured.

Reports said the fire started when five siblings, all under the age of 10, were in their tent at the Telhamut tent city in Ceylanpınar without their parents. The fire grew rapidly within a couple of minutes, observers said.

Syrians fleeing violence in their country have been battling cold weather in refugee camps inside Turkey and in tents on the Syrian side of the border.

Turkish aid organizations have launched a joint large-scale aid campaign to provide food and shelter from the cold to Syrian refugees who fled to Turkey to escape from the intensifying violence in their country. Several Turkish NGOs and charities have launched an aid campaign, calling for “bread and blankets for Syria,” to help Syrian refugees cope with harsh weather conditions. Organizers call for donations both from Turkey and around the world.

An aid convoy funded by a British Muslim charity, SKT Welfare, arrived in Ankara on Monday on its way to the Syrian border. The convoy of 10 vans and 13 ambulances is carrying aid, winter clothing and medical equipment to the Syrians. The convoy departed on Dec. 23 and the SKT Welfare team will be returning by plane in the first days of January, according to the SKT Welfare's website.

Hosting the SKT Welfare members at a dinner, Keçiören Mayor Mustafa Ak said he was pleased to host the British team and added that his municipality was also joining the aid efforts for Syria. “The much needed help should be delivered to the Syrians as soon as possible,” Ak said during the dinner.

Fonte: Today's Zaman