At least 49 killed in Bangladesh landslides

By TOFAYEL AHMED, Associated Press Writer – 34 mins ago

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh – Powerful landslides triggered by heavy rains killed at least 49 people in southeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday, striking a coastal area as people slept and burying many alive inside their homes.

Rescuers pulled bodies from under chunks of mud covering mostly thatched huts before rescue work was suspended because of darkness, officials said.

As the rain continued to pound, officials feared the toll could rise. At least five soldiers were confirmed dead and another was missing after their camp was hit by a mudslide.

The mudslides struck early Tuesday in 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.

Kabir Ahmed, a 45-year-old villager, said he felt something shake his mud-walled and tin-roof house before a stream of mud and trees came down on top of it.

"It was raining when I woke up to say my morning prayers," Ahmed said. "Then there was the jolt followed by rolling mud."

Ahmed survived when he went out in darkness to see what was happening. Before he could return, his house was covered with tons of mud burying his wife and three young children alive.

Rains hampered rescue efforts with many roads inundated.

Fire fighters and soldiers were using cranes and water hoses to clear debris from a makeshift military camp in the Ramu area that was buried under mud, said local photographer Rashedul Majid. Several vehicles were covered by layers of mud and a huge banyan tree had collapsed on a bamboo-and-tin roof shelter, he said.

A district magistrate in Cox's Bazar, Mohammad Jasim Uddin, confirmed the deaths of five soldiers and said another was trapped.

The chief government administrator in the area, Giasuddin Ahmed, said 45 bodies, including those of the soldiers, had so far been recovered from the landslides at Ukhia and Teknaf.

Another mudslide in a nearby district of Bandarban killed four members of a family, said police officer Zahirul Hoque.

Ahmed said dozens of people left homeless took shelter in government buildings and were given food and water.

He said the rescue operation was called off until Wednesday.

The heavy rains that triggered the landslides were caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal.

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Associated Press writer Julhas Alam contributed to this report from Dhaka.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_re_as/as_bangladesh_landslides