DHAKA, April 15: At least 56 people were killed and more than 500 injured as a tornado hit several villages in northern districts of Mymensingh and Netrokona on Wednesday night, official sources said.

The tornado that hit the two adjacent districts, some 100km off Dhaka, flattened houses and uprooted trees. While the official sources confirmed 56 deaths, local people told visiting journalists that the figure could exceed 70 as reports of death and destruction caused by the tornado were still being received from remote areas.

Of the injured, about 400 people have been admitted to the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital and some 100 others to the Haluaghat Health Complex.