June 13, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1428

CHITTAGONG, June 12: The toll from landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains in Bangladesh hit 100 on Tuesday as hundreds of rescuers tried to clear tonnes of mud with little hope of finding survivors.

Police, soldiers and emergency workers involved in the search operation around the southeastern port of Chittagong said they were fighting a losing battle with continuing rain hampering the search effort.

“In one spot alone we found 14 dead bodies. We had to dig through 10 feet (three metres) of mud for hours to locate the bodies,” Chittagong fire brigade chief Rashedul Islam said, adding that they were the worst landslides he had ever seen.

“These helpless people were living in tin-roofed houses at the foot of hills. They did not have a chance,” he added.

Landslides happen regularly in the hilly areas of Chittagong and experts have previously warned of disastrous consequences as a result of successive governments' failure to stop the illegal clearing of hill areas for housing.

Injured survivor Omar Akhter, 40, speaking from his hospital bed, said the body of his teenage daughter had been found but that his wife and eight-year-old son were still missing.

“It happened so suddenly and with such a huge power that it took me a while to realise what had actually happened,” he said.

Officials said 100 bodies had been recovered from the mud in and around Chittagong, a city of 1.5 million people, while ten more people died in lightning strikes in four districts across the country. One other person was electrocuted.

The head of Bangladesh's military-backed emergency government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, told reporters while visiting the area that the government would take steps to stop hill clearing and prevent similar tragedies in future.

An official in the army's incident control room, Major Moeen, said more than a thousand troops, police, fire brigade and civilian workers had joined the search although he feared the “toll may climb further.”

The landslides struck early on Monday as people slept following several days of continuous monsoon downpours.—AFP