CHITTAGONG • Heavy monsoon rains and landslides killed at least 92 people in south-east Bangladesh, burying many in their homes as they slept, the authorities said.

Three young children from the same family were among those killed in the disaster, which comes just weeks after a cyclone battered the area, destroying camps housing thousands of Rohingya refugees.

Police yesterday warned that the death toll would likely rise as emergency workers reached remote parts of Chittagong Hills, where telephone and transport links had been cut. "Many of the victims were from poor tribal communities in the remote hill district of Rangamati, close to the Indian border, where 60 people were killed when mudslides buried their homes," district police chief Sayed Tariqul Hasan told AFP. "Some were sleeping in their houses on hillsides when the landslides occurred."

The police ordered the evacuation of thousands of people living in slums at the base of hills in the neighbouring district of Chittagong, where 26 people have been confirmed dead.

Rohingya leader Mohammad Anam told AFP the latest rains had worsened conditions in makeshift camps badly hit by the cyclone. "We're living in constant fear of landslides." he said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE