July 13, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1423

DHAKA, July 12: Floods sweeping almost half of Bangladesh have killed at least 45 people, stranded over a million and left thousands homeless, officials said on Friday.

They said most of the deaths were caused by diarrhoea after villagers drank floodwater in remote areas, where authorities had earlier sealed off wells contaminated with arsenic.

After 12 days of flooding the rain has eased but the situation was expected to worsen over the next week, officials said.

Rivers were still slowly rising, further heavy rain was expected and more floodwater was expected to flow down rivers from India, which surrounds Bangladesh on three sides.

Many of Bangladesh’s more than 150 rivers originate in the Himalayas and flow through India.—Reuters