Jun 13, 2007, 12:59 GMT
Chittagong, Bangladesh - The death toll from landslides and flash floods touched off by heavy rains reached 119 in the Bangladesh port city of Chittagong on Wednesday as an army-led search and rescue operation went on for the fourth consecutive day, officials said.
Civil defence volunteers dug out the rotting remains of at least 21 victims, raising the overnight number of the dead from 98 to 119 in the worst natural disaster to hit the poor country this year.
Some 20 people were on the list of the missing while nearly 300 others were being treated in hospital for injuries.
Rescuers claimed the casualties were from huge chunks of earth and stones, which were loosened in the showers, rumbling down the hills and smashing the shanties below.
'There may be still a few people trapped under the debris of crushed homes and mudslides, but the chances of finding any of them alive are very slim,' divisional commissioner Mokhlesur Rahman said.
Rahman, however, said that no efforts would be spared to recover all the bodies buried under tons of mud at the foot of the low altitude hills that dot the landscape of Chittagong, the country's main port city.
The military-backed interim government recently declared the port city a disaster zone, mobilizing thousands of soldiers, paramilitary police and civilian volunteers to help the survivors rebuild their lives.
Ports have resumed limited operation after two days of closure due to thunderstorms battering the Bay of Bengal coast.
Officials said the rainswept port city was knee-deep under water in many parts, while emergency workers used boats as transports.
Chittagong is located 275 kilometres south of the capital Dhaka.
'It is a national emergency and we must unite the nation to face the calamity,' said Fakhruddin Ahmed, the executive head of the caretaker regime.
Ahmed flew into the port city overnight to monitor personally the rescue operation and the distribution of relief materials among the people who survived the ordeal but were injured and made homeless.
The active monsoon dumped heavy rains in five north-eastern districts in the Sylhet region triggering flash floods that made about 60,000 people homeless, disaster management officials said.
The seasonal rains swelled the rivers Surma and the Khowai, threatening the existence of scores of villages along the fragile coastline.
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