SITTWE, Myanmar, May 13, 2023 (AFP) – Thousands fled Myanmar’s west coast and officials in neighbouring Bangladesh raced to evacuate Rohingya refugees on Saturday as the most powerful cyclone in the region for over a decade churned across the Bay of Bengal. Cyclone Mocha was packing winds of up to 220 kilometres per hour (136 miles per hour), according to India’s meteorological office, equivalent to a category four hurricane. It is expected to weaken before […]
Tag: BANGLADESH
Cyclone Mocha heads for Myanmar, Bangladesh
GWA, Myanmar, May 11, 2023 (AFP) – Myanmar and Bangladesh deployed thousands of volunteers and ordered evacuations from low-lying areas on Thursday as the Bay of Bengal’s first cyclone of the year approached. Cyclone Mocha is forecast to make landfall on Sunday along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, according to India’s meteorological office, packing winds of up to 175 kilometres (108 miles) per hour. The office predicted a storm surge of between two and two and a […]
Bangladesh swears in new president ahead of election
Mohammed Shahabuddin, a former judge and a ruling party official, was sworn in as the president of Bangladesh on Monday, just months before a general election. Shahabuddin, 73, was an anti-corruption commissioner and fought in the country’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan, the presidential palace said. “He was sworn in as the 22nd president of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh today,” Shampad Barua, secretary of the president, told AFP. He was elected by lawmakers […]
Huge fire engulfs market in Bangladeshi capital
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Hundreds of Bangladeshi firefighters were mobilized in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday to battle an inferno that raged through a popular clothing market and blanketed the city’s oldest neighborhoods in black smoke. No casualties have been reported so far, but shop owners and fire officials told reporters that the Bongo Bazar market and three adjacent commercial precincts had been almost completely gutted. “Some 600 firefighters … are working to bring the […]
Bangladesh opposition mounts huge protest, MPs quit
Dhaka, Bangladesh (AFP) by Sam JAHAN / Mohammad MAZED Nearly 100,000 supporters of Bangladesh’s main opposition party descended on Dhaka Saturday to protest against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and demand new elections. “Sheikh Hasina is a vote thief,” they chanted at the Golapbagh sports ground where the rally was held as the crowd spilled into surrounding streets. All seven opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) MPs announced their resignations from parliament at the […]
Dreams of wealth turn to dust for Qatar migrant workers
by Shafiqul ALAM / with Aishwarya KUMAR in New Delhi / and Mikhail FLORES in Manila Agence France-Presse SREEPUR, Bangladesh (AFP) — Hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to Qatar in recent years to work on giant construction schemes as it boosted its infrastructure ahead of the World Cup. Drawn by the prospect of making more money than they could ever hope to at home, migrants make up nearly 90 percent of Qatar’s population […]
24 dead, million seek shelter as Cyclone Sitrang hits Bangladesh
by Sam JAHAN At least 24 people died after Cyclone Sitrang slammed into Bangladesh, forcing the evacuation of about a million people from their homes, officials said Tuesday. Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the Atlantic or typhoons in the Pacific — are a regular menace in the region but scientists say climate change is likely making them more intense and frequent. Sitrang made landfall in southern Bangladesh late Monday but authorities managed […]
Nine dead, million seek shelter as cyclone hits Bangladesh
KUAKATA, Bangladesh (AFP) — At least nine people have died after a cyclone slammed into Bangladesh, forcing the evacuation of around a million people from their homes, officials said Tuesday. Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the Atlantic or typhoons in the Pacific — are a regular menace but scientists say climate change is likely making them more intense and frequent. Cyclone Sitrang made landfall in southern Bangladesh late Monday but authorities managed to […]
Bangladesh evacuates hundreds of thousands ahead of cyclone
Barisal, Bangladesh | AFP | by Sam JAHAN At least one person was killed and hundreds of thousands were evacuated Monday from the path of a cyclone careening towards densely populated, low-lying Bangladesh, according to officials. About 33,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, controversially relocated to a storm-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, were advised to remain indoors. Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the Northwest Pacific — […]
Bangladesh pilgrim boat tragedy death toll hits 61
Boda, Bangladesh (AFP) Rescuers and navy divers recovered 10 bodies Tuesday after a boat overloaded with religious pilgrims capsized in Bangladesh, police said, taking the death toll to 61 as anxious relatives waited for news of several people who were still missing. The incident on Sunday near the northern town of Boda was the deadliest in years in the South Asian country, which is crisscrossed by rivers where overcrowding on aged vessels is common. Seventeen […]
26 more dead in India monsoon fury, waters recede in Bangladesh
At least 26 more people have died in monsoon flooding and lightning strikes in India, as millions remained marooned in the country and neighbouring Bangladesh, authorities said Monday. Floods are a regular menace in India and Bangladesh, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency, ferocity and unpredictability for the two countries’ 1.6 billion people. In India‘s northeastern state of Assam, three people were killed in landslides while six others died in flood waters, […]
Bangladesh depot accused over blast that killed at least 49
by Sam JAHAN / Shamsuddin Illius Bangladesh authorities accused a container depot operator Monday of not telling firefighters about a chemical stockpile before it exploded with devastating consequences, killing at least 49 people — nine of them from the fire service. The toll from the giant blast, which followed a fire at the B.M Container Depot in Sitakunda and sent fireballs into the sky, was expected to rise further. Some containers were still smouldering on […]





