Two children among 6 dead as landslides hit Cox’s Bazar

Six people have died after separate landslides hit Cox’s Bazar’s Sadar Upazila and a Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhiya.

Three members of a family died in Jhilongja Union’s Dikkul area in the Sadar Upazila while three members of another family died at the Hatikumrul-14 Rohingya camp in Ukhiya.

The separate incidents occurred late on Thursday night and early on Friday morning.

The dead in the Cox’s Bazar Sadar incident were identified as Akhi Moni, 21, and her two children Miha Jinnat Nayeema, 5, and Latifa Islam.

The three killed at the Rohingya camp’s E-2 Block are brothers Abdur Rahim, Abdul Hafez, and Abdul Wahed.

Mizanur Rahman Sikder, the Ward No. 2 member of Jhilongja union council, said that the house of Mizanur Rahman was hit by a landslide triggered by heavy rain around 2am on Friday. Four members of the family were trapped after the incident.

Neighbours were able to rescue Mizanur alive. Locals also recovered the bodies of his wife and children after they moved the soil.

The local representative said that Mizanur's house is at the foot of a steep hill. Heavy rain that started on Thursday afternoon softened the soil and the hill collapsed and buried the house during the night.

Cox's Bazar Sadar Upazila executive officer Nilufa Yasmin Chowdhury visit the site of the landslide and later donated Tk 75,000 to the victim’s family.

Mohammad Shamsuddouza Nayan, refugee relief and repatriation commissioner and additional commissioner, said that the heavy, continuous rain in the area triggered a landslide that destroyed three homes at the Hakimpara Rohingya Camp No. 14 in Ukhiya.

Three brothers were trapped under the debris and died. When the incident was reported, local volunteers carried out rescue operations, removed the soil burying the homes and recovered the bodies of three people.

Cox’s Bazar has been experiencing persistent moderate to sometimes heavy rain since Wednesday.

Heavy rains have caused severe waterlogging in more than fifty villages, including the district town, on Thursday. Rain and runoff have inundated many homes in the area, leading to public suffering.

Abdul Hannan, assistant meteorologist at the Cox's Bazar Meteorological Department said that the total rainfall in the 27 hours from 6am on Thursday to 9am on Friday was 401 mm. It is the most rainfall recorded over a single-day period this season.