Bandarban landslides kill four

Four people, including a couple and their baby girl, were killed in two landslides amid heavy rain in Bandarban yesterday.

Md Hanif, 30, his wife Rijia, 25, and their two and a half years old girl Halima Begum were buried alive when a chunk of mud fell on their tin-roofed house at remote Kalaiya Para in Lama upazila around 1:00pm, said Nure-A-Jannat, upazila nirbahi officer of Lama.

In another landslide, Protima Das, 45, was killed at Bir Bahadur Nagor in Bandarban town when huge chunks of earth fell on her tin-roofed house around 11:45am, said police. 

Members of fire service with the help of locals conducted a rescue operation and recovered the body, said Golam Sarwar, officer-in-charge of Bandarban Sadar Police Station.

Protima and her husband Milon Das were in the house when the landslide took place. But Milon, somehow, managed to survive, the OC said.

Some tin-roofed houses have recently been built illegally in Bir Bahadur Nagor area after cutting hills, said Aslam Hossain, deputy commissioner of Bandarban.

Locals alleged that when rainy season started, people living at the foot of hills were only asked to leave the risky areas by the local administration. But the administration did not take proper steps to relocate them.

Road communications between Bandarban and Rangamati have remained snapped since yesterday morning as Pulpara bridge in Sadar upazila has gone under water, said Sajib Ahmed, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department in Bandarban.