Partly fixed Rangamati-Ctg road opens

The link road from Rangamati to Chittagong that gave away during the recent series of landslides in Satchhari area has been partly repaired and opened for use.

Bangladesh Army worked for a stretch of 72 hours and managed to create a temporary solution, said Satchhari camp army spokesperson Lt Col Mashfiqul Alam.

For now, light vehicles can ply the road, about 10-12 feet wide. However, piles of landmass are still lying about a crater that was created during the landslide a few days ago.

The road was opened for public this afternoon, Rangamati Deputy Commissioner Manzurul Islam told The Daily Star. Chittagong divisional General Officer Commanding (GOC) Jahangir Kabir Talukder traveled on the road to open it.

Lt Col Mashfiqul Alam told The Daily Star that a 150 feet long bailey bridge or moving the road into the mountain would be a permanent solution to the road communication problem.

Currently, some loose soil is resting on the walls of the mountain that the road is adjacent to. It poses a risk of sliding off and blocking the road.

However, Lt Col Mashfiqul Alam says that the hill is rock solid and does not pose any danger of breaking off and causing a further catastrophe.

During the landslide, landmass slid off this hill and buried five Bangladesh Army men, including two officers, who were working on a rescue operation on the road below.

Roads and Highways division had said it would take at least a month to restore this road. The road linking Rangamati to Khagrachhari would take even longer – about six months.

For the moment, transportation of goods and supplies are being done through the Kaptai channel, where the shipments have been made absolutely free of cost.

2 more names tagged in the list of dead

Authorities have included two more people in the list of dead after they were unable to recover the bodies, said KM Ikhtiar Uddin, spokesperson for local disaster management control room.

The names of Ruby Akther, 37, and Md Shahjahan, 9, made a total of 120 dead in the district after the worst series of landslide in a decade hit the district on June 12.

The families of the deceased will receive 20,000tk and 30kg rice each.