Bad weather hampers Bangladesh storm search

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2006

DHAKA (AFP) — Heavy monsoon rains hampered rescuers as they searched for as many as 1,000 fishermen still unaccounted for following a violent storm in the Bay of Bengal earlier this week. The government put the confirmed death toll at 31 but the Red Cross said it expected the number to rise sharply once the weather allowed a full-scale search-and-rescue operation to begin.

"Once the sea calms down and a full-scale search is launched, we believe the death toll will be far higher," said Shamsul Alam, a Red Cross Cyclone Preparedness official, but he gave no precise estimate Saturday. The government's death toll of 31 was below the 85 dead reported by Bangladesh's official news agency BSS in the storm that struck late Tuesday. A minister heading the government's rescue and...