BANGLADESH: Dhaka remains paralysed by flooded roads

Life across Bangladesh, especially in capital Dhaka, remained largely paralysed on Sunday (September 24) with roads knee-deep in water. Strong winds and heavy rain triggered by a storm last week have left around 375,000 people homeless in Bangladesh and India over the past four days. As people waded through water-filled roads in the city, traffic struggled to move through the crowded streets. "It's been raining for the past three-four days and we cannot do our daily jobs. It's so much of a problem," said Tuli Khanam, a resident of Dhaka. Storms that battered Bangladesh and eastern India have killed more than 170 people and left many missing, navy and coast guard officials said on Saturday (September 23). Most of the victims in the eastern coast of India and Bangladesh were fishermen caught in the storm on Tuesday night while fishing in the Bay of Bengal, government officials said. They said more than a dozen navy vessels, other boats and helicopters launched a massive search and rescue operation off the Bangladesh coast on Saturday, as hopes of finding the missing alive faded fast. Authorities say that while many boats have managed to return to shore, the navy and coastguard are still looking for hundreds of fishermen who remain unaccounted for. Also they were looking for a naval officer missing in the bay after his patrol boat ran aground on an island during Tuesday's storm. Other crews of the grounded boat had been recovered by helicopter. Surviving fishermen said they were caught off guard as weather authorities had failed to warn them of the impending storm. Dhaka's weather office denied this, saying an alert was issued well in advance.

ITN Source | September 24, 2006

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