Death toll from landslides in Bangladesh rises to 53; 500 sheltered at makeshift camps
By Tofayel Ahmed, APWednesday, June 16, 2010
Landslide death toll hits 53 in Bangladesh
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Rescuers recovered four more bodies buried in mud Wednesday, raising the death toll from powerful landslides in southeastern Bangladesh to 53.
Triggered by heavy rains, the powerful mudslides struck a coastal area Tuesday, burying thatched homes and cutting off thousands in the southern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar and the nearby district of Bandarban.
At least 49 bodies were recovered Tuesday, mostly from two areas in Cox’s Bazar, 185 miles (296 kilometers) south of the capital, Dhaka, in a hilly and forested region near the border with Myanmar.
The bodies of three children — two boys and one girl — were found overnight, and a missing soldier killed by the slides was also pulled from the mud, said Mohammad Jasim Uddin, a magistrate in Cox’s Bazar.
Another five soldiers’ bodies were recovered Tuesday. They were assigned to a makeshift camp that was buried by mud.
About 500 people left homeless after Tuesday’s disaster have taken refuge at five shelters in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf area, bordering Myanmar, said local official Shafik Mia.
