Heavy rains kill at least 43 in Bangladesh

DHAKA: Landslides triggered by heavy rain buried hillside homes in Bangladesh on Tuesday killing at least 43 people and injuring several, officials said.

The death toll could go up as rescuers were searching for bodies, said police official Rafiq Ullah. Police warned that the death toll would likely rise as emergency workers reached remote parts of the affected area, where telephone and transport links had been cut. "The recovery work is still going on," the head of the Department of Disaster Management Reaz Ahmed told AFP.



Most of the deaths occurred in two districts, Rangamati and Bandarban, which the meteorological office said had been pounded by heavy rains since early Monday. Bazlur Rashid, a weather official, told AFP Rangamati had been pounded by 343 millimetres (13.5 inches) of rain on Monday.

"It is still going on today," he said. Heavy monsoon rains also pounded the capital Dhaka and Chittagong, a major port city, disrupting traffic movement for hours. The latest disaster came after Cyclone Mora smashed into Bangladesh's southeast, killing at least eight people and damaging tens of thousands of homes.



One senior police officer said four soldiers were among the casualties in Rangamati, where a number of tribal communities have been waging a two decades-long insurgency.