Heavy monsoon rains triggered a landslide at a madrassa in a Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing eight children and injuring five others, officials said.
The landslide buried the madrassa under mud and debris after days of heavy rain.
Rescuers recovered 13 children from the madrassa, eight of whom died, while the rest were admitted to hospitals in the camps for treatment.
The deaths came after separate rain-triggered landslides earlier this week killed eight Rohingya refugees, including women and children, in the camps.
More than 1.2 million Rohingya refugees live in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement, after fleeing a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Most families live in makeshift bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelters on steep, deforested hillsides that are vulnerable to landslides during the annual monsoon season. Authorities have been relocating families from high-risk areas as heavy rainfall increases the danger of landslides.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has forecast more rain in the coming days, and officials remain on alert for landslides and flash floods.
Source: Reuters
--Agencies
