Bangladesh drowning

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Floodwaters, disease and snakebites killed 58 more people across Bangladesh as two-third’s of the country and much of the capital was under water, officials said yesterday, as the death toll from monsoon flooding across all of South Asia neared 950.

Across the border, in India’s north-eastern Assam state, rescuers yesterday recovered seven more bodies after a boat capsized, police said. Ten bodies were pulled from the site yesterday.The boat was crammed with passengers, ferrying them to safety, when it flipped over.The new deaths in Bangladesh came as rivers around the capital Dhaka burst their banks, leaving 40 percent of the city of 10 million people under water.Parts of the central business district and two upscale residential areas were submerged.Workers and volunteers frantically stacked sandbags in a bid to stop water gushing through cracks in two main flood protection embankments outside the capital.The floods – the worst in this delta nation of 140 million people since 1998 – have hit 45 of the country’s 64 districts since the start of the monsoon in late June.The 58 new deaths occurred due to diarrhoea, drowning and snakebites, the government said without providing further details.About 75 000 people have been stricken with diarrhoea since the start of the floods in June, it said.Snakebites often cause deaths during floods because the reptiles are often forced into the open where they attack people.- Nampa-APTen bodies were pulled from the site yesterday.The boat was crammed with passengers, ferrying them to safety, when it flipped over.The new deaths in Bangladesh came as rivers around the capital Dhaka burst their banks, leaving 40 percent of the city of 10 million people under water.Parts of the central business district and two upscale residential areas were submerged.Workers and volunteers frantically stacked sandbags in a bid to stop water gushing through cracks in two main flood protection embankments outside the capital.The floods – the worst in this delta nation of 140 million people since 1998 – have hit 45 of the country’s 64 districts since the start of the monsoon in late June.The 58 new deaths occurred due to diarrhoea, drowning and snakebites, the government said without providing further details.About 75 000 people have been stricken with diarrhoea since the start of the floods in June, it said.Snakebites often cause deaths during floods because the reptiles are often forced into the open where they attack people.- Nampa-AP

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