Landslide death toll reaches 152

RESCUE workers battled yesterday to reach victims of landslides, described as the worst in Bangladesh’s history, as the death toll from the disaster rose to 152.

Villagers in some of the worsthit areas used shovels to try to dig bodies out of the mud that engulfed their settlements as they slept.

Authorities say hundreds of homes were buried by mud and rubble sent cascading down hillsides after monsoon rains dumped 34cm of water on the southeast part of the country.

Khodeza Begum narrowly survived the disaster, which destroyed her home and killed 11 people in her village.

She said she had emerged from her home just after dawn on Tuesday to see the mountainside collapsing in front of her.

“I saw a huge slab of earth rolling down from the hill. Instantly, I got all my relatives out of their homes,” Begum said.

“My house was buried under mud within moments. I have never seen a disaster like this in my life.”

Firefighters in the worst-hit district of Rangamati recovered six more bodies yesterday after clearing mud with shovels and water pumps.

The firefighters had pulled 18 people out from under the mud on Tuesday, but did not have the manpower to reach all the affected areas.

Authorities have opened 18 shelters in the worst-hit hill districts, where 4 500 people have been evacuated.

Extreme weather in the far northeastern Indian state of Mizoram, along the border with Bangladesh, also left 12 people dead, an official said yesterday.

“Many people are reported missing. Hundreds of houses have been damaged,” N Chakhai, the state’s head of disaster management, said. – AFP