2-year old girl killed by fire in al-Hol camp

A local market in the sprawling al-Hol displacement camp in northeast Syria, July 9, 2019 (Photo: Wladimir van Wilgenburg/Kurdistan 24)
A local market in the sprawling al-Hol displacement camp in northeast Syria, July 9, 2019 (Photo: Wladimir van Wilgenburg/Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A two-year old was killed when a fire broke out in northeast Syria's notorious al-Hol camp on Friday.

According to Save the Children, the baby girl was killed when a faulty heater sparked a fire in the camp. 

"It is difficult to find the words. This girl never got to experience life outside a camp. These unsafe camps are no place for children," Save the Children tweeted. 

It's not the first fire in the camp. Some previous fires there were set by arsonists.

A woman died, and one of her children was injured when a fire broke out in the foreigner's section of northeast Syria's notorious al-Hol camp on Mar. 11.

Read More: Woman dies in another fire in Syria's al-Hol camp

On Mar. 6, another fire broke out in the fifth section of the camp. That tent belonged to a woman who worked with humanitarian organizations there. The fire quickly spread to four other tents. However, unlike Friday's incident, there were no casualties. 

Read More: Fire erupts in Syria's al-Hol camp

According to data from the UN, al-Hol is the largest camp for refugees and internally displaced people in Syria, hosting about 56,000 people.

Most of al-Hol's residents are Iraqis and Syrians, but the camp also includes many foreign families thought to have links to the Islamic State.