The fire displaced roughly 50,000 Rohingya refugees of the genocide in Myanmar and destroyed many buildings, including schools and food storage centres.

Some observers reported that rescue efforts were hindered by barbed-wire fencing around the camp, suggesting that it may have slowed down escapees and possibly contributed to the casualties.

According to the United Nations, as of July 2019[update], over 742,000 Rohingya people who had fled or been driven out of Rakhine State sought refuge in Bangladesh.

Thousands are without homes"; conversely, suggested the Catholic Relief Services, it was lucky that the fire had broken out in the afternoon rather than at night, as "people were moving around and children were outside playing, so they could quickly evacuate".

[9] The Times of India stated that "at least four teams of firefighters were struggling to control the blaze" and that videos posted to social media showed thick black smoke covering the camp.

A number of human rights observers criticised the placement of barbed wire around the camp, arguing that it had prevented people[4]—"including especially vulnerable women and girls", said the IRC[9]—from fleeing the fire, and perhaps contributed to the death toll.

[4][6] Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) argued that "this tragic event could have been less disastrous had barbed wire fencing not been erected encircling the camps.

NRC staff have heard horrific accounts from refugees about their scramble to cut through the wire fences to save their families, escape the fire and reach safety".

[7] The spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that he had "never before seen anything as massive and devastating", and that ground-based teams were carrying out a search and rescue operation in the rubble.