At least 80 people were killed and 70 injured after landslides triggered by heavy rains buried hillside homes in the port city of Chittagong Monday, police and witnesses said. The dead include 10 of two families while 11 lost their lives when walls of their homes caved in. A man was electrocuted. Chittagong divisional commissioner Mokhlesur Rahman confirmed the deaths of 79. He said the army, police and local people ratcheted up rescue efforts and sent out alerts by loudspeaker, asking people to move to safety, away from hills. The police and volunteers were struggling to retrieve the bodies still trapped under rubble. Waist-high water closed shops and stranded residents in much of the city. "Traffic was terrible," Moinuddin Ahmed, who works for a private organisation, told bdnews24.com from Chittagong by phone. Ahmed went out in his car but got stuck in heavy traffic and drove back home after much struggle.
