5 killed in fresh landslides in Bangladesh

Dhaka: At least five persons were killed on Sunday in separate incidents of landslides triggered by heavy rains in Bangladesh.

The landslides occurred in the wee hours in Khagrachhari and Moulvibazar districts. A 14-year-old boy and his 10-year-old younger brother were among the dead in Khagrachhar, Dhaka Tribune reported.

"The incident took place due to the torrential rain early on Sunday. The death toll might increase," a police official was quoted as saying by daily. An official confirmed the death of another five-year-old boy in the landslide. 

A woman and her daughter were killed in a landslide in Moulvibazar district this morning, the report said. Afia Begum, 50, from Moddhodimai village and her daughter Fahmida Begum, 13, were killed after their house was crushed under a landslide mass from a hillock, a local official said.

Locals recovered the dead bodies of the duo removing the landslide mass in the morning. With the addition of these two new landslides, the death toll from landslides in Chittagong division has risen further to 161.

The southeastern Rangmathi, Chittagong and Bandarban hill districts have been the worst affected regions in Bangladesh where incessant monsoon rains have triggered a series a landslides and caused water-logging in many parts, besides submerging a number of villages.

Densely populated Bangladesh is battered by storms, floods and landslides every rainy season but this year's rain is the worst since 2007 when landslides killed 127 people in the port city.