Thousands of Rohingya evacuated after deadly landslides in Bangladesh Camp

Bangladesh has evacuated 10,000 Rohingya from around refugee camps located in Cox’s Bazar district near the Myanmar border after at least 14 people were killed in monsoon-triggered landslides and flash floods, officials said on Wednesday.

After three days of torrential rain, the refugees, most of whom fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017, were moved from hilly slopes around the Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar, refugee commissioner Shah Rezwan Hayat said.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya who could not find room in the camps have cleared forests on the surrounding hills and set up shelters that have since been met with landslides every monsoon season.

“We have brought some 10,000 Rohingya to safe places after their shelters were hit by heavy rain and landslides,” Hayat told AFP news agency.

At least six Rohingya are among the dead and several others were injured, officials said. The other dead are local villagers whose homes were buried.

Cox’s Bazar district, where more than 850,000 Rohingya refugees are packed into 34 camps, has recorded more than 27cm (10 inches) of rain since Monday, according to weather authorities.