DHAKA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Scores of people including an army major and six soldiers were killed in devastating landslides caused by heavy rains in Bangladesh's three southeastern districts early Tuesday and many more were also feared dead under the mud, officials said.
Heavy rains swept through Bangladesh's three southeastern districts -- Cox's Bazaar, Bandarban and Rangamati -- and triggered huge landslides early Tuesday.
"Rescuers in our district have so far retrieved 30 bodies," an official from Rangamati district, some 391 km from capital Dhaka, told Xinhua over phone.
The official who did not like to be named could not tell whether the army personnel died going to rescue affected people.
The identities of all deceased could not be immediately known.
Rangamati Superintendent of police Sayeed Tarikul Hassan told Xinhua that rescue operation is still underway.
He said flood caused by the incessant rain inundated many areas of the Rangamati where officials said they recorded around 30 centimetres of rainfall in 24 hours to 9 a.m. local time Tuesday.
He said rescue teams, using shovels and bare hands, are still searching for more bodies under tons of mud and debris.
"Many more were feared dead under the mud," he said without specifying any number.
Apart from this, 15 people were also killed due to landslides in the country's southeastern Bandarban district, some 316 km away of capital Dhaka, and Chittagong district, 242 km southeast of Dhaka.
Bandarban Superintendent of police Sanjeeb Kumar Roy told Xinhua that six bodies have so far been recovered.
He said police with the help of local people retrieved the bodies from under the mud.
Nine people reportedly died in Chittagong, another danger zone for landslide.
Landslides are frequent in Bangladesh's hilly areas during the heavy monsoon that usually runs from June to September.
In June 2007, some 123 people were killed in a devastating landslide in Bangladesh's southeastern Chittagong district, some 242 km away of Dhaka.
