Five killed in landslide

Two children were among five people killed after heavy rains triggered a mudslide in southeastern Bangladesh yesterday, officials said.Five others were also injured in two separate incidents in Cox’s Bazar district, said Abdul Malek, deputy assistant director of the district’s fire service and civil defence.The incidents took place at around 3am (2100 GMT Monday). Four were buried by a mass of mud, while the fifth victim died when a wall collapsed on her, Malek said.The coastal district of Cox’s Bazar has received some 20cm of rain in the last 24 hours.Landslides have been occurring in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, combining three hilly districts of Bangladesh including Cox’s Bazar since June.Officials say incidences of landslides continue to strike unabated as people live in dangerous conditions due to lack of relief and rehabilitation policies.At least 153 people were reported to have been killed and hundreds of others injured in the landslides that devastated places in five districts in Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh on June 11 night. The victims included four members of the army, two of whom were officers.Landslides are frequent in Bangladesh’s hilly areas during the heavy monsoon that usually runs from June to September as land has been heavily deforested to grow crops and build new houses.In June 2007, some 123 people were killed in a devastating landslide in Bangladesh’s southeastern Chittagong district, some 242km away of Dhaka.Tens of thousands of people have been displaced after unusually heavy rain triggered a string of mudslides since June.Despite repeated warnings and notices, officials say many families continued to live in dangerous conditions at the foot of hills in the region.