Relentless monsoon rains turned a Rohingya madrasa into a death trap on Wednesday when a rain-soaked hillside collapsed during Quran classes in Ukhiya, killing eight people -- seven children and a teacher -- in the deadliest of a series of landslides that have struck southeastern Bangladesh.
The tragedy unfolded at Camp-5 of the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar, where more than 40 children were attending afternoon lessons inside a madrasa at A-3 Block when tons of mud and debris crashed down the hillside, burying the building within seconds.
Firefighters, Armed Police Battalion (APBn) personnel, Rohingya volunteers and humanitarian workers launched a frantic rescue operation, pulling 13 people from beneath the rubble.
Eight of them were declared dead, while five others were rescued with injuries and taken to nearby hospitals.
Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said four victims died at the scene and four more succumbed to their injuries after being taken to hospital. Two of the children killed were from the same family.
The disaster came as days of relentless rainfall continued to batter Cox’s Bazar, where floodwaters have inundated low-lying areas, disrupted transport and sharply increased the risk of landslides across the district.
According to local authorities, at least 10 people, including women and children, have died in landslides in Cox’s Bazar over the past two days.
The deadly weather has also claimed lives in Chittagong.
Four people, including two children, were killed in separate landslide and wall-collapse incidents between Tuesday and Wednesday.
A woman died after a hillside collapsed in Rangunia on Tuesday, while a young man was killed when a retaining wall gave way in Rahman Nagar under Panchlaish Police Station.
On Wednesday morning, a 10-month-old child died after being buried under earth in Sitakunda’s Jangal Salimpur area.
Later in the day, a 12-year-old girl was killed in another landslide at Chashma Hill in Panchlaish.
Authorities say Chittagong city alone has 26 highly vulnerable hills, including 16 owned by the government and 10 privately owned.
Officially, more than 6,500 families live in these high-risk areas, although officials believe the actual number is considerably higher.
The district administration has divided the vulnerable hills into five monitoring zones and deployed executive magistrates, assistant commissioners (land) and around 150 volunteers to persuade residents to move to safer places.
Public announcements are also being made in high-risk neighbourhoods warning residents not to remain on unstable hillsides.
In Cox’s Bazar, authorities have stepped up emergency preparedness as heavy rain continues.
The district administration, Fire Service, law enforcement agencies, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, disaster management authorities and humanitarian organisations have activated emergency response measures, opened shelters and advised vulnerable Rohingya families to relocate where necessary.
Meanwhile, the severe weather has disrupted transport across the region.
Train services on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar railway remain suspended after floodwater submerged sections of the track, while ferry services on the Teknaf-Saint Martin’s route have also been halted because of rough seas.
Meteorologists have warned that active monsoon conditions are likely to persist over the coming days, bringing further heavy to very heavy rainfall and increasing the risk of additional landslides, flash floods and waterlogging.
Officials have urged residents living on or below unstable hillsides to heed evacuation warnings immediately.
Chittagong Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Zahidul Islam Mian said executive magistrates, land officials and volunteers had been deployed in all high-risk zones to relocate vulnerable residents before further rain-triggered disasters occur.