UPDATE - Monsoon floods claim 29 lives in southeastern Bangladesh

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - At least 29 people, including children, have died in monsoon floods in southeastern Bangladesh, officials said Thursday.

Nine others are missing in the floods that have affected over 1.2 million people in the Chattogram and Cox's Bazar district, district officials told Anadolu over phone.

Monsoon rains in Bangladesh, usually from June to September, affect hundreds of thousands of people every year.

In Cox’s Bazar, 16 people, including three children, have died while two others are missing, district commissioner Muhammad Shaheen Imran told Anadolu.

The floods have affected 480,000 people in the Cox's Bazar district, he added.

The floods have caused damages worth 14 million Bangladeshi taka ($127,903), according to initial estimates of the district administration on Thursday.

Seed beds, crop fields and fish enclosures were also washed away in the floods.

Meanwhile, in Chattogram, 13 people died in the monsoon floods that ravaged the southeastern region since Tuesday, Abul Bashar Mohammed Fakhruzzaman, the district commissioner, told Anadolu over phone.

At least 9 people were still missing in the district, he added.

The floodwaters have affected about 800,000 people in the Chattogram district, according to the district administration.

Search and rescue operations are underway in the flood-hit areas.

The Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway, a key transport route, opened on Thursday as flood waters receded.