Fresh landslides in Khagrachhari leave three minors dead

Police in Khagrachhari have reported the death of three children in landslides in Ramgarh and Laxmichhari Upazila.

Laxmichhari police OC Arif said a landslide around 7am on Sunday left Liton Chakma, 7, killed in Jatindra Karbari Para area.

Earlier in the morning, a landslide struck the hill tract district's Ramgarh Upazila killing two brothers, said Khagrachhari's Superintendent of Police Ali Ahmed Khan.

The fire service, along with the police and Red Crescent volunteers, has launched a rescue operation, he said.

Those killed have been identified as 14-year-old Nur Nabi and 10-year-old Nur Hossain, said Ramgarh police.

"It was reported that the brothers died when their house was destroyed in a landslide," said local police OC Shariful Islam.

A low over the Bay of Bengal led to the worst rains in decades that caused landslides in five southeastern districts from late Monday to early Wednesday.

The death toll in the disaster stands at 159 until Saturday.

Meteorologists say such heavy rains triggered by a low took place also in 2004. The low advanced from northwest to southwest at that time.

But the low this time chose the opposite direction and advanced towards northeast. It weakened into rains in Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and the three hill tract districts--Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari.

But the impact of the rains in loosening up the soil in the hills seem to be triggering smaller landslides ever since.

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