Rescuers searched for bodies yesterday after a bridge collapsed under the weight of thousands of hungry cyclone survivors stampeding for food in southern Bangladesh, but were struggling to shift a massive concrete slab obstructing their efforts.
Dozens of people were injured and one died when a section of the bridge fell into a river in Kalapara subdistrict on Saturday, police official Mohammad Yunus said. Kalapara is in Patuakhali district, one of the areas hardest hit by Tropical Cyclone Sidr earlier this month.
At least two people remained missing, Yunus said, adding that rescuers were not expecting to find any survivors under the slab in the 6m deep river.
PHOTO: AP
"We'll continue our operations," he said by phone from Kalapara.
The collapse of the bridge was the latest blow to the already impoverished region of southern Bangladesh where survivors of the Nov. 15 cyclone, which killed more than 3,100 people and destroyed more than 450,000 homes, were struggling to restart their lives.
Aid workers' attempts to deliver critical supplies and medical services were already hampered after roads and communications routes were blocked or destroyed by debris from the storm.
The US Navy was assisting in the relief efforts.
The USS Kearsarge, carrying about 20 helicopters and relief supplies, was docked off the country's coast as naval officers made arrangements to deliver large aid packages to the battered region and the USS Essex, was due to arrive in coming days, US embassy spokeswoman Amy Vrampas said.
Officers were dispensing medical assistance from a clinic aboard the Kearsarge, Bangladesh army Leautenant Colonel Main Ullah Chowdhury said.
The cyclone destroyed many wells, and clean water supplies were necessary to prevent the spread of cholera and severe diarrhea. On Friday, the US Navy delivered 11,355 liters of drinking water to hard-hit Barisal district.
"We've been told that water was the most crucial," Vrampas said.
Bangladesh has received pledges of international aid of more than US$500 million, including US$250 million from the World Bank.
Authorities would distribute 15kg of rice per month to each of an estimated 2.5 million people left destitute by the storm, many in crowded relief camps, starting on Saturday, said Tapan Chowdhoury, the government's adviser on food and disaster management. The program will last at least four months, he said.
Kelly Stevenson, the Bangladesh director of Save the Children, estimated that more than half of the region's rice crop was destroyed, which could leave up to 3 million people hungry in coming months.
The official death toll from the cyclone stood at 3,199, said Major Nowroz Ehsan, a spokesman for the army, which is coordinating the relief and rescue work.
The Disaster Management Ministry said 1,724 people were missing and 28,188 people had been injured. It said the cyclone destroyed 458,804 houses and partially damaged another 665,529.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in