Official says cyclone kills 56 people in eastern India, destroys thousands of mud huts

Cyclone kills 56 people in eastern India

CALCUTTA, India — A cyclone demolished thousands of mud huts and uprooted trees in several villages in northeastern India, killing at least 56 people, officials said Wednesday.

The cyclone struck Tuesday night in northeastern parts of West Bengal and Bihar states, snapping telephone and electricity lines in the region, West Bengal Civil Defense Minister Srikumar Mukherjee said.

Officials said 31 people were killed in West Bengal and 25 in Bihar. Hundreds of people were injured.

The worst-hit villages in West Bengal state were Hematabad, Raiganj and Kiran Dighi, where police and rescue teams have recovered 31 bodies, Mukherjee told The Associated Press.

Another 25 people were killed in the northeastern Bihar districts of Araria, Kishenganj and Purnea, top Bihar state official Nitish Kumar told reporters.

The cyclone demolished nearly 50,000 mud huts in West Bengal and more than 1,000 in Bihar, officials said.

A prison wall collapsed in Bihar’s Araria district, forcing authorities to shift more than 600 inmates to another prison, Kumar said.