The alarm call came at 3.30 pm and two fire engines from Rawai and one from Chalong rushed to the scene.
The camp, containing 14 corrugated iron shacks, were well ablaze by the time the fire engines arrived, and firefighters had to contend not only with flames but also exploding cooking gas bottles.
The flames were extinguished in 30 minutes, but not before they had burned everything. This left the Burmese – who had all been at work at a construction site about 100 metres away when the fire broke out – to try to retrieve their belongings, including, in many cases, their savings kept in the form of gold jewellery.
Police said the cause of the fire would be investigted, but added that it was probably caused by an electrical short.