|
|
| Prisoners swim to escape in South Asia flood chaos |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 07/19/2004 |
|
Fifty people went missing after a river burst its bank in Bangladesh and more than two dozen prisoners swam to freedom from an inundated Indian jail, as South Asia reeled under monsoon flooding last Thursday. Over eight million people have been marooned or left homeless in eastern India, Bangladesh and Nepal as heavy rains caused dozens of rivers to overflow into densely populated areas since the start of the month. "For the last three days, we have been starving and have not received anything from the government," Madhu Sarma told Reuters on the outskirts of Guwahati, the main city in India's flood-hit state of Assam. "My children are crying in hunger." Sarma sat with her three children on a highway surrounded by flooded fields along with hundreds of others who had lost their homes. The flooding in South Asia comes amid rainy season disasters elsewhere in Asia. This week, torrential rains killed eight people in northern Japan and forced the evacuation of thousands. More than 22 people died in Taiwan and at least a dozen were missing in floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Mindulle in early July. Floods killed dozens in southern China late last month. But the worst hit part of the continent is South Asia where 240 people have died in drownings, snakebites and landslides as monsoon rains lashed the largely low-lying region since the start of July. In the impoverished Indian state of Bihar, where huge tracts of land are under water, 34 jail inmates in the town of Darbhanga escaped by swimming out while prisoners were being evacuated from the flooded prison. "The prisoners took advantage of the chaotic situation as over 600 prisoners were being taken to the first floor," said senior Bihar government official Pradeep Kumar. |
Comments:
Login to let us know what you think
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
I hope that these prisoners will find shelter somewhere. I know they did something wrong, but they should get best chlorine tablets for swimming pool as a punishment. It would be too harsh if shelter is not given them.