By SM Najmus Sakib
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Five children — including four members of a single family — were killed and four others injured in landslides in the Cox’s Bazar area of southeast Bangladesh on Wednesday.
The landslides were triggered by days of torrential rainfall amid the country’s monsoon season.
In one early morning landslide, a chunk of mud from a hill collapsed on a house while all those inside were asleep, leaving four dead, Faid Uddin Khandaker, the officer in charge of Cox’s Bazar Model Police Station, told Anadolu Agency.
In a later landslide, a boy was killed and three others injured. The injured were taken to a local hospital, according to local police.
The deceased were identified as Marjia Begum, 15, Pabiya Begum, 10, Abdul Hye, 8, and Khairunnessa, 6, and Morshed Alam, 5.
Over the last 24 hours, some 228 millimeters of rain has been recorded in the area, according to state meteorologists.
Though the deaths took place outside the local camps for some 700,000 Rohingya refugees, last month at least three Rohingya Muslims were killed and hundreds of others injured in Cox’s Bazar by mudslides after monsoon rains.
The UN and rights groups have also warned the monsoon season could lead to disease outbreaks and other problems at the camps.
