Landslides kill dozens in Bangladesh
June 13, 2017
Rescue efforts have been slowed by bad weather and the death toll may rise, officials said.
"We have not been able to reach many of the affected places. Once the rains are over, we'll get a full picture of the damage and get the recovery work in full swing," Department of Disaster Management Reaz Ahmed told AFP.
The hardest hit districts were Rangamati, Chittagong and Bandarban in the southeast.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded 508 millimeters (nearly 1.5 feet) of rain in Rangamati over the past two days.
Four soldiers working to clear a previous landslide in Rangamati were among the dead.
Telephone and transport links have also been cut off.
The nation of 160 million people is often hit by cyclones, floods and landslides during the rainy season. The latest heavy rains were caused by a tropical depression in the Bay of Bengal.
Last month, at least eight people died and thousands of homes destroyed after Cyclone Mora hit southeast Bangladesh.
In 2007, nearly 130 people were killed in a landslide in Chittagong.
cw/rc (AFP, AP, dpa)