95 dead, hundreds missing as storms lash India, Bangladesh

The death toll from three days of storms in Bangladesh and India rose to at least 95 after rescuers recovered 30 more bodies along the Bay of Bengal, while hundreds remain missing, news reports and officials said Thursday.

Photo: 95 dead, hundreds missing as storms lash India, Bangladesh

The storms have capsized dozens of fishing boats in the Bay of Bengal, toppled houses and washed away roads.

Rescuers recovered 30 more bodies overnight, pushing the death toll in Bangladesh to 49 after sudden storms hit the tropical nation's southern coast on Tuesday, rescue officials said.

Nearly 1,000 people, including a naval commander, are missing, the officials said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to media.

Rough weather was hampering the search for the missing, they said.

In neighboring India, storms since Monday killed at least 46 people and injured hundreds of others, Indian officials and media reports said.

At least 15 were killed and 300 others injured when a cyclone hit India's West Bengal state, Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The storm left a trail of destruction in two districts in West Bengal, toppling thousands of mud huts, trees, and electricity and telephone poles, the agency reported, quoting the state Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta.

The death toll was expected to rise as reports from interior areas had yet to come in, the report said.

In India's southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, torrential rains and floods killed at least 31 people over two days, an official said Wednesday.

Most people died when their houses collapsed or when they were swept away by flood waters, said G.T. Priyadarshini, a relief official.

Around 5,000 people have been evacuated to safer areas and many villages were cut off after roads and railway tracks were submerged when rivers in the state overflowed their banks, reports AP.