Cyclone batters Bangladesh, 62 dead
Dhaka,
Nov
16:
At
least
62
people
were
killed
and
hundreds
injured
as
hurricane
SIDR
lashed
Bangladesh's
coastal
districts
overnight
causing
widespread
destruction
in
the
country.
Rescuers said the casualty figure would rise when the picture of destruction caused by the hurricane, that struck the country's 15 coastal districts with a wind speed of 240 kmph, becomes clear.
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Preliminary
reports
say
21
people
were
killed
in
Barisal,
19
in
Patukhali
12
in
Bagerhat,
6
in
Bhola
and
4
in
Satkhira
districts.
Most deaths were caused by house collapse and fallen trees.
Thousands of houses were razed to the ground, trees uprooted and standing crops on vast tracts of land damaged by the storm.
Reuters adds that more than 100 fishing boats in the Bay of Bengal had failed to return to shore despite repeated storm warnings given over the radio.
Sixteen Bangladeshi fishermen went missing after their fishing boat sank in Cox's Bazar, a resort town some 400 km southeast of Dhaka, a local fishing association said.
Rescued fishermen from Myanmar told Bangladeshi officials that 12 of their compatriots had drowned at sea. They were among a group of fishermen aboard four fishing boats which were smashed into shore by the cyclone.
The latest cyclone triggered 5-metre high water surges in many of the affected districts.
It washed away hundreds of thatched homes, destroyed crops and killed livestock.
UNI