A huge fire that devastated a Syrian refugee camp has killed at least one child and wounded dozens.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said the camp near Qab Elias town in the Bekaa valley housed 102 families.

Six people were injured in the blaze which firefighters were unable to stop as the temperatures soared.

Emergency worker Ahmed Salloum said: "The settlement has turned to ashes, even the iron melted," Metro reported.

He said he thought an overload of power had caused the blaze. There were reports that only three of the camp's 93 tents left standing.

Dana Sleiman, spokesperson for the UNHCR, said the fire had affected 102 families living in the camp.

"It's a very tragic situation. Unfortunately tented settlements of this sort - because of their informality and spontaneity as they are built in very ad hoc ways - are at high risk of fire during the summertime especially," she told al Jazeera.

There are at least one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon although the unofficial figure is a lot higher with many living in makeshift tented settlements around the country.

Lebanon
Civil defence members put out fire at a camp for Syrian refugees near the town of Qab Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley Reuters