Baby survives landslide that buried house, killed family in Bangladesh

The Associated Press ,  Teknaf, Bangladesh   |  Sun, 07/06/2008 9:01 PM  |  World

A 3-month-old baby girl survived unhurt after a landslide destroyed her family's home Sunday in southern Bangladesh, killing her parents and two older siblings, an official said.

Rescuers pulled the infant from the rubble of the family's mud and straw hut at the foot of a hill in Teknaf district, about 380 kilometers south of Dhaka, said Shubal Das, an official in nearby Cox's Bazar.

The hut was leveled when earth loosened by heavy monsoon rains slipped down the hill, he said.

The baby's father, Nurul Hashem, his wife and two older children aged seven and three died, said Shajjadul Hassan, a local government official.

The baby, who was not immediately identified, was unhurt. She was being cared for by a neighbor, Hassan said.

On Thursday, landslides killed nine people, including seven children, in the same hilly region near the Bay of Bengal.

Heavy monsoon rains have battered the area for the past week. About 5.7 inches (145 millimeters) of rain fell in Teknaf over the weekend, the weather office said.

Many impoverished Bangladeshis live at the foot of hills despite the danger of landslides.

More than 1,000 huts are scattered among the foothills where Sunday's landslide occurred, witnesses said.(**)

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