Chittagong — Emergency workers in Bangladesh on Thursday stepped up the search for victims of the country’s worst ever landslides, with mounting claims that the disaster was made worse by unchecked development. Rescuers found two more bodies, including that of a woman apparently washed away, taking the death toll from floods and landslides across southeast Bangladesh to 154. "We think she was washed away by strong currents during Tuesday’s landslides," local fire chief Didarul Alam said. "We have stepped up our rescue work in the five worst affected spots. But it’s a huge struggle to dig through [1.2m] of mud. Also villagers were not sure where the bodies were buried." Emergency workers also found the body of a soldier missing since Tuesday, army spokesperson Rashidul Hasan said. The landslides were the deadliest in the country’s history, eclipsing the previous highest death toll of 127 a decade ago. Bijoy Giri Chakma, an elected tribal leader in the hardest-hit district of Rangamat...
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