Landslide from monsoon rains kills 5 children at Rohingya camp in Bangladesh
Monsoon rains have triggered a landslide that killed at least five children at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. The landslide swept through an Islamic school in Cox’s Bazar district,…
A landslide caused by monsoon rains killed at least five children as it swept through an Islamic school at a camp for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s southeastern Cox’s Bazar district, a fire official said.
More than 1 million refugees live in the camp. Dollar Tripura, local chief of the Fire Service and Civil Defense, said the landslide hit as children were attending classes.
Tripura said they rescued another five injured children but suspected that more could be buried.
The rescue operation continued Wednesday evening.
Three days earlier, landslides killed at least eight people at Rohingya camps in the area.
Landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains in southeastern Bangladesh have killed at least eight Rohingya refugees, including five children, while heavy monsoon rains battered parts of neighboring India, leaving 13 dead over the past few days.
The weather office in the South Asian nation’s capital, Dhaka, forecast more rain in the coming days.
Authorities said they were relocating refugees from at-risk hilly areas and more than 1,000 people were already relocated. They said the refugees are often reluctant to leave their makeshift homes despite warnings.
Bangladesh has urged the international community for years to help the country begin repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar, but the process is stalled.