The camp in the south-east is believed to be the world's largest refugee camp. Most of its residents, Rohingya refugees, had fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar. On Monday, hundreds had returned to the Cox's Bazar area to see what they could salvage from the ruins. The blaze had started at about 14:45 local time Sunday (08:45 GMT) and quickly tore through the bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelters, an official said.
"Some 2,000 shelters have been burnt, leaving about 12,000 forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals shelterless," Mijanur Rahman, Bangladesh's refugee commissioner, told AFP news agency.