DHAKA: Tropical storms that battered southern Bangladesh are now known to have killed at least 26 people while some 60 fishermen are still missing, an official said yesterday.
The government’s Disaster Management Bureau (DMB) said at least 30,000 mud, tin and straw-built houses were damaged in the storms that wreaked havoc in around half a dozen coastal towns and the islands of Hatiya, Bhola and Sandwip early Thursday.
Dalil Uddin, a senior DMB controller, said rescuers had found seven more bodies yesterday, raising the overall death toll to 26.
Most of the bodies were recovered buried under the rubble of collapsed homes or from under fallen trees. “We are expecting the death toll might still rise, as rescue efforts are still on,” Uddin told the reporters.
Uddin said the government has started to distribute emergency relief food among more than 100,000 affected people.
There had been fears for up to 1,500 fishermen who were unaccounted for on Thursday but police have revised that figure down to around 60.
6.7 magnitude quake strikes off Indonesia
JAKARTA: A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua yesterday, the US Geological Survey said, with reports of minor damage to some houses on remote islands but no tsunami warning issued.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 9:31 am (0131 GMT), was 247 kilometres (153 miles) southwest of Nabire in Papua and 108 kilometres north of Dobo in the Aru Islands, USGS said. It hit at a depth of 24 kilometres.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre website said there was no current warning or advisory in effect while social media reports said the quake was felt as far away as Darwin, in northern Australia.
AFP
