Forty six killed in Bangladesh floods

Monsoon floods ravaging Bangladesh for more than a week have killed about 46 people and displaced or marooned millions, authorities said today.

Six more people drowned in the hardest-hit northern districts of Sirajganj and Tangail late yesterday, raising the flood death toll to 46, the Food and Disaster Management Ministry said.

More than a third of Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation of 145 million people, has been inundated by floods, the ministry said in a statement.

At least five million people have either been marooned or displaced in the country’s hardest-hit northern region.

Many of the dead were children who drowned, relief officials said.

Bangladesh is hammered by monsoon floods that kill hundreds every year and destroy homes and crops.

The River Jamuna breached its banks this week, inundating much of Sirajganj, a small town 65 miles north-west of the national capital Dhaka.

Schools and some government offices have been closed as streets were under waist-high water.

Many displaced people have taken shelter on embankments, while others have moved onto rooftops of their houses. Residents are using small boats to get around.

Yesterday, Fakhruddin Ahmed, the head of the country’s military-backed interim government, toured by helicopter some of the flood-hit areas in the North and promised to help to the victims.

“We know that you are suffering. Our government will do everything possible to reduce your miseries,” Ahmed said.