Landslides kill eight more in Khagrachhari

Landslides killed eight more people in Khagrachhari, raising the number of dead in the hill district to 24 and the combined death toll in Chittagong and Khagrachhari to 31, police and security sources said yesterday.

Five of the victims were killed in Pathachhara of Guimara and three in Palashpur.

A few more people also remained missing in the hill district, which, along with Chittagong, has been battered by landslides and flash floods since Wednesday.

Earlier, landslides killed 16 people in Khagrachhari's Ramgarh upazila in 24 hours till 6:00pm Thursday. During the same period in Chittagong, flash floods killed two people in the city and five were buried alive in a landslide in Mirer Sarai.

Golam Hossain, additional deputy commissioner (ADC) general of Khagrachhari hill district yesterday told The Daily Star that the overall situation there had started improving with the recession of floodwater as rains eased a bit yesterday.

But he said the flood situation at Ramgarh had worsened with the onrush of water from Feni River in full spate and about 2000 affected people had taken shelter at six relief centres at Khagrachhari.

But some of the families returned home after floodwaters receded in some places yesterday morning, he added.

Magistrate Zafar Alam at the Khagrachhari district administration office said about 9,000 families have been affected by flash floods and landslides in Khagrachhari district as their houses were more or less destroyed.

He said Tk 50,000 and 21 metric tons of rice had already been distributed among the affected people at the relief centres, and the ministry concerned has been requested to arrange for more relief.

The DC of Khagrachhari and some other officials went to visit the affected areas in Ramgarh yesterday. They were yet to return when this report was filed at 4:00pm.

Meanwhile, floodwater all but receded in the port city that witnessed little rainfall yesterday.