DHAKA, July 8 (Reuters) – Heavy monsoon rains triggered a landslide at a madrassa in a Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing eight children and injuring five others, officials said.
• The landslide buried the madrassa under mud and debris after days of heavy rain.
• Rescuers recovered 13 children from the madrassa, eight of whom died, while the rest were admitted to hospitals in the camps for treatment.
• The deaths came after separate rain-triggered landslides earlier this week killed eight Rohingya refugees, including women and children, in the camps.
• More than 1.2 million Rohingya refugees live in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement, after fleeing a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
• Most families live in makeshift bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelters on steep, deforested hillsides that are vulnerable to landslides during the annual monsoon season.
• Authorities have been relocating families from high-risk areas as heavy rainfall increases the danger of landslides.
• The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has forecast more rain in the coming days, and officials remain on alert for landslides and flash floods.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by YP Rajesh)
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