Landslides kill nine in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh

Dhaka: At least nine people, including eight Rohingya Muslims, were killed and several others injured on Wednesday after heavy monsoon rains triggered landslides in refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, officials said.

People died in landslides at three separate places in the early hours of Wednesday, Mohammad Shamsud Douza, a senior Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said after days of heavy rain as the monsoon season began.

More than one million Rohingya live in crowded camps in the border district of Cox's Bazar, the world's largest refugee settlement, after fleeing a military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017.

The Bangladesh weather office said it expected heavy rains to continue for the next few days.

Rohingya refugees mostly live in shacks made of bamboo and plastic sheets, often on steep, bare hills.