At least six people were killed in two separate landslides caused by heavy rains in Cox’s Bazar Sadar upazila and at a Rohingya camp in Ukhiya upazila early Friday.
In Sadar upazila, Akhi Moni, 28, wife of Mizanur Rahman of Dakshin Dikkul, and her two daughters, Miha Jannat Naima, 12, and Latifa Islam, 9, met the tragic end of their lives as they were buried under a landslide.
Talking to this correspondent relatives of the victims said they heard a loud noise from Mizanur’s house around 2:00am during the heavy rain.
“When we rushed to the spot we found his (Mizanur) family buried under the debris, though Mizanur had been rescued alive,” in an emotion chocked voices the relative said.
Giyas Uddin Zhiku, the former chairman of Jhilongja Union Parishad said that they heard the sound of a landslide from the direction of Mizan’s house during heavy rain at night. Later, they went there and saw that Mizan’s family was crushed under the landslide. Mizan was immediately rescued alive around 3am. Later, with the help of the locals, the bodies were recovered from the spot.
Cox’s Bazar has been experiencing steady rain since last Wednesday, leading to waterlogging in several areas.
Abdul Hannan, assistant meteorologist at the Cox’s Bazar Meteorological Office, said the Met office recorded 453 mm of rain in the 24 hours until noon on Friday.
25000 tourists stranded in
hotels, motels
Firefighters later recovered the bodies of his wife and two young daughters in the early of Friday.
Beside, three members of the same family died after a landslide at the Ukhiya Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar on Friday.
The incident happened in Ukhiya’s Hakimpur capm-14 at 4:00 am on Friday.
Shamsud Doza Nayan, Additional Commissioner of the Cox’s Bazar Relief and Rehabilitation Commission Office, confirmed the matter. The deceased were Abdul Rahim, son of Kabir Ahmed from E-2 Block of Rohingya Camp 14, Abdul Hafiz, and Abdul Wahed.
Ataul Gani Osmani, Additional District Magistrate of Cox’s Bazar, said a total of six people have died due to landslides in the district. Among them, three are Bangladeshis and three are Rohingyas. Local representatives and residents said that although the rainfall started at 9:00am yesterday, heavy downpour began at 12:30pm.
After that, continuous heavy rain for 12 hours, brought the lives of the city’s 8,00,000 residents to a standstill.
Such heavy rainfall has not been seen in the last 50 years, they said.
Ninety percent area of Cox’s Bazar Sadar and many villages of the district have been submerged by a third round of flooding, caused by continuous heavy rainfall.
More than 25, 000 tourists have got stranded in Cox’s Bazar in their hotel rooms due to the flooding.
They are unable to go anywhere. Red flags are being displayed at various points on the beach, warning tourists not to enter the sea.
The city has experienced such flooding in the past 50 years, according to Abul Kashem Sikder, President of the Cox's Bazar Hotel Guesthouse Owners Association.
The flooding has resulted in various internal roads impassable, leaving thousands of people stranded and suffering.
The floods, caused by three days of incessant rains caused extensive damage to crops and roads across the district.
The affected people, meanwhile, have reported scarcity of pure drinking water and shortage of food.
Administrative authorities and local representatives are trying their best to help the flood affected people by providing, drinking water, cooked and dried food and other relief.
