Landslides, floods kill 106 in southern Bangladesh

A Bangladeshi woman, left, whose relative died in a landslide is consoled by another on the outskirts of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Rescuers said landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 30 people in southern Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Anrup Titu)

A Bangladeshi woman, left, whose relative died in a landslide is consoled by another on the outskirts of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Rescuers said landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 30 people in southern Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Anrup Titu)

Bangladeshi rescuers search for survivors and bodies following landslides on the outskirts of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Rescuers said the slides caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 30 people in southern Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Anrup Titu)

Bangladeshi rescuers search for survivors and bodies following landslides on the outskirts of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Rescuers said the slides caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 30 people in southern Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Anrup Titu)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? Searchers pulled out 15 bodies buried under mud, rocks and debris on Thursday, raising this week's death toll to 106 from landslides and floods caused by heavy monsoon rains in southern Bangladesh.

Officials said the landslides occurred mainly in remote villages with poor roads, making rescue work more difficult.

At least 41 died in Cox's Bazar, 41 in neighboring Bandarban and another 24 in Chittagong, mostly in a series of landslides, the Disaster Management Ministry said. It said soldiers joined the search for the missing in all three areas and found 15 more bodies buried in debris Thursday.

About 500 houses were washed away. Officials said more people may be missing, but they didn't know how many.

Three days of torrential rain in the region of small hills and forests dislodged huge chunks of earth, which buried flimsy huts where families were sleeping late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Many of the dead were women and children, officials said.

In Bandarban, 11-year-old Rafiqul Islam was the only member of his family to survive because he was away when mud buried his hut. His parents and three siblings died.

"I could survive because I was visiting a relative," the boy told The Associated Press. "The rain had kept me from returning home."

Monsoon floods are common in Bangladesh, a delta nation of 160 million people. Many homeless people live at the foot of the hills or close to them, despite warnings from authorities.

Volunteers using loudspeakers warned people about the danger of landslides during the rains, said Jaynul Bari, a government administrator in Cox's Bazar. The floods inundated dozens of villages and were disrupting communications in the region.

Flood waters covered many roads and washed away a railway bridge, snapping road and rail links between Dhaka and the three districts. An airport in Chittagong was closed after floodwaters swamped its runway, but reopened Wednesday after the rains stopped, officials said.

The government said relief workers were distributing rice and water to hundreds of displaced people.

Associated Press

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