Bangladesh storm toll rises to 26, scores missing

Terra Daily via AFP: Tropical storms that battered southern Bangladesh are now known to have killed at least 26 people while some 60 fishermen are still missing, police and officials said on Friday.

The government's Disaster Management Bureau (DMB) said at least 30,000 mud, tin and straw-built houses were damaged in the storms that wreaked havoc in around half a dozen coastal towns and the islands of Hatiya, Bhola and Sandwip early Thurday.

Dalil Uddin, a senior DMB controller, said rescuers had found seven more bodies on Friday, raising the overall death toll to 26. Most of the bodies were recovered buried under the rubble of collapsed homes or from under fallen trees. "We are expecting the death toll might still rise, as rescue efforts are still on," Uddin told AFP....