Bangladesh storms leave 20 dead

A string of violent storms have lashed Bangladesh's two coastal districts, leaving at least 20 people dead and an unknown number of crew on board hundreds of fishing boats missing in the Bay of Bengal, officials said Thursday. They said the strong storms triggered by depression have swept over the South Asian country's Noakhali district, some 158 km southeast of Dhaka; and southern Bhola district, some 205 km away of the capital city, Wednesday midnight, leaving a trail of destruction behind. Thousands of thatched houses have been destroyed while crops on thousands of acres of land were also ruined, officials said. They said innumerable trees and electric poles were uprooted during the nature's scourge which started Wednesday midnight and continued till Thursday morning. "Storms killed sixteen people in Noakhali," Sirajul Islam, the district's administration chief, told Xinhua Thursday evening over mobile phone. He said 20,000 houses have been damaged fully or partially while crops on 10,000-15,000 acres of land were ruined in the district where the overnight storms wreak more havoc. The overnight tropical storms also left a trail of destruction in Noakhali's neighboring Bhola district. Bashir Ahmed, Bhola's police chief, told Xinhua that "Four bodies have been found after the storms swept over many places of the coastal district." He said many fishermen along with 200 trawlers remained missing. But he expressed the hope that the fishermen on board of the boats have remained safe. Mokter Hossain, a police official, told Xinhua from Noakhali's Hatia sub-district that hundreds of fishing boats with an unknown number of crew on board from the island (Hatia) in the northern Bay of Bengal have also been missing since Wednesday night. He said details were not available immediately. There are no authentic figures available, Noakhali's administration chief Islam said. Officials said telephone lines and power supply were snapped in most of the affected areas, aggravating misery of the people and making it difficult for the local administration to conduct rescue and relief operations in remote villages and islands. They fear the death toll may rise as they scramble to reach affected areas to assist in rescue operation and relief distribution. Tornado and cyclones are common in this calamity prone South Asian country of about 153 million people and kill hundreds of people every year. Super cyclone Aila swept across areas of southern Bangladesh on May 25, 2009. It caused widespread damage and affected around 3 million people, leaving at least 179 dead. Cyclone Aila was the biggest natural calamity in the South Asian delta country after the powerful cyclone Sidr hit the country's southwestern coastal belt on Nov. 15, 2007, leaving more than 4,000 people dead or missing.