DHAKA (Reuters) – At least six Rohingya Muslims, including children, were killed and several injured on Tuesday after heavy monsoon rains triggered a landslide in refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, officials said.
“So far we have information of five people who died in the landslides in camps and one child swept away by flooding,” Mohammad Shamsud Douza, a senior Bangladesh government official in charge of the refugees, said.
He said there were also children among the landslide victims.
Another government official said heavy monsoon rains over the last two days flooded most of the refugee camps.
Nearly one million Rohingya are living in squalid camps in the border district of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, the world’s largest refugee settlement, since fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state nearly four years ago.
Bangladesh weather office said it expected heavy rains to continue for the next few days.
Rohingya refugees mostly live in shacks made of bamboo and plastic sheets that cling to steep, bare hills, and flooding has further worsened their living conditions.
“Monsoons and landslides are making our situation even more precarious,” Rohingya refugee, Mohammad Ismail, told Reuters.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
