Bangladesh: At least eight people, including seven students and a teacher, were killed after a landslide buried an Islamic study centre inside a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, as relentless monsoon rains continued to batter the region.
The landslide struck the girls’ school during the afternoon, engulfing the structure in mud and debris and triggering an urgent rescue operation. Authorities said 13 people were pulled from the collapsed school building, but eight of them succumbed to their injuries.
According to Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, the victims included young students and one teacher. Several of the children were reportedly between seven and 12 years old. The five survivors were rushed to nearby hospitals and are receiving medical treatment.
The disaster comes with days of heavy rainfall that have lashed the southeastern coastal district since Sunday. Earlier this week, separate landslides in the Rohingya refugee camps claimed the lives of at least eight other refugees, including five children, highlighting the growing humanitarian risks during the annual monsoon season.
Cox’s Bazar is home to more than one million Rohingya refugees, making it the world’s largest refugee settlement. The majority fled Myanmar following a military crackdown in 2017 that forced hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Many refugee families continue to live in temporary shelters constructed from bamboo and tarpaulin on unstable, steep hillsides, leaving them particularly vulnerable to landslides and flooding during periods of intense rainfall.
Weather officials have forecast additional heavy rain over the coming days, prompting authorities to issue fresh warnings for landslides and flash floods. Emergency teams have also begun evacuating residents from high-risk areas in an effort to prevent further casualties.
Humanitarian agencies continue to monitor the situation as rescue operations and relief efforts remain underway across the refugee camps.
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