Bangladeshi troops fanned out to evacuate thousands of marooned people in five western frontier districts hit at the weekend by floodwaters from India, officials said Monday.
Defense officials said soldiers were sent by boat Sunday to a remote Damurhuda subdistrict of the Chuadanga frontier area to rescue marooned villagers from flooded homes.
The situation in neighboring flood-hit districts, bordering India's submerged West Bengal state, was being reviewed and troops would be sent into those areas if necessary, the officials said.
Press reports said floods worsened in the western districts of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Kushtia, Chuadanga and Meherpur on Sunday as major rivers were swollen with water from across the border.
The Daily Star newspaper said that in the worst-hit Chuadanga district some 50 villages were submerged and four people were killed after three embankments collapsed.
Earlier, in neighboring Meherpur district, paramilitary troops were called out after 50,000 villagers were left homeless in the floods that hit 30 villages along the frontier.
Local officials said the Kharia River in India overflowed Friday and its waters were pouring into Bangladesh.
Paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles troops were helping in aid activities for an estimated 28,000 flood-hit families in Meherpur and nearby Chuadanga district.
Relief and Disaster Management Minister Abdul Khaleque visited the swamped districts Sunday, the officials said. The government allocated 200 tons of rice and a 325,000 taka (6,000 dollars) cash grant for flood victims -- DHAKA (AFP)
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