15,000 marooned as Kobadak dam gives in

Twelve villages in Pratapnagar union under Assassuni upazila were flooded following collapse of embankment at Kurikaunia point on the Kabodak river yesterday afternoon.
Over 15,000 people in the areas have been marooned while standing Amon crops on 1400 acres of land and some 2,500 shrimp enclosures in the area have been washed away, sources said.
Heavy pressure of river water due to high tide at about 1:00pm also washed away the sluice gate, in addition to breaching some 82 feet of the embankment.
The worst affected villages are Kurikaunia, Pratapnagar, Nakna, Goalpara, Khajra, Sanatankati, Baintala, Gar Padmapukur, Kalyanpur, Shirshira, Goalkati and Rayerbeel in Pratapnagar union.
Seeing cracks on the embankment on Thursday, locals started mending it but all their attempts failed as the embankment finally collapsed due to violent tide in the river and inundated the areas.
Satkhira Water Development Board Executive Engineer GM Mujibar Rahman said they are trying to reconstruct the collapsed embankment on an emergency basis.