More than 90 people have been killed by a cyclone that ripped through Bangladesh and eastern India, officials and local media said.
At least 62 people died in Bangladesh and 29 in India's West Bengal state, with millions still marooned or living in shelters.
"The death toll rose to 62 following recovery of 47 more bodies from different cyclone-battered coastal districts," Bangladesh's private ATN television reported.
Cyclone Aila slammed into parts of Bangladesh and eastern India on Monday (local time), triggering tidal surges and flooding that forced half a million people from their homes.
Officials in coastal Bangladesh moved about 500,000 people to temporary shelters after they left their homes to escape huge tidal waves churned by winds up to 100 kilometres per hour.
Heavy rain triggered by the storm also raised river levels and burst mud embankments in the Sundarbans delta in the neighbouring eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
The affected area is home to hundreds of thousands of people as well as the world's biggest tiger reserve.
In Bangladesh, the worst affected area was the Satkhira district, near the port of Mongla, where a local official said 17 bodies were found in one village.
"The situation here is alarming, and the confirmed death toll so far in the district is 22. But it may go up," Mohammad Abdus Samad, deputy commissioner of Satkhira, said by telephone.
Aila swept many areas still recovering from Cyclone Sidr in November 2007, which killed 3,500 people in Bangladesh and made at least a million homeless.
Bangladesh officials said at least 100 people were missing after the cyclone.
- Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment