Landslide kills 3 in Chittagong

Three people, including a father and his son, were killed in a landslide at a hill in Chittagong's Rangunia upazila yesterday afternoon when some workers were cutting the hill.

The dead, Amir Ali, 35, his son Rakibul Hasan Atik, 10, and Md Didar, 30, were from Mohammadpur village in the upazila.

The incident took place in South Rajanagar area of the village around 3:00pm, said Imtiaz Mahmud Bhuinya, officer-in-charge of Rangunia Police Station.

A second grader at a local madrasa, Rakibul's life was cut short as he took lunch for his father.

Talking to The Daily Star, Rajanagar union Chairman Ahmed Sayed Talukdar said at least 10 people were cutting the hill when the tragedy struck.

The three victims were buried under huge chunks of earth while eight other workers fled the scene soon after the accident, he added.

Police and locals later recovered the bodies from the spot and later handed over the bodies to the victims' families.

Sayed said a group of people were involved in cutting hills and selling soil in the area for long. “I warned them of serious consequences for cutting hills, but they didn't pay heed.”

Abetted by some local influential people, the gang sells each jeep-load of soil at Tk 2,000. It pays each worker Tk 800 to Tk 1,000 daily, said the public representative.

The gang also felled many trees on forest land in the area, the chairman alleged.

Mohammed Kamal Hossen, upazila nirbahi officer of Rangunia, said they were yet to identify the hill-cutting gang.

“We are trying to find some witnesses of the landslide to know about the gang. We will step up surveillance in the area to check hill cutting,” he added.