Eight Killed in Landslide at Girls' School in Bangladesh Refugee Camp

Sun Sep 06 2026 11:28:48 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

A devastating landslide buried a girls' school in Cox's Bazar, killing eight of the 13 rescued members – seven students and one teacher.

In the coastal city of Cox's Bazar, a landslide triggered by heavy monsoon rain crushed the Islamic study centre of a girls' school within the world's largest Rohingya refugee settlement. Rescue workers recovered thirteen people trapped in deep mud; eight of them – a mix of students and a teacher – succumbed to injuries. The tragedy adds to a string of mud‑slide disasters that have already killed at least fourteen Rohingya refugees since the week’s heavy rains began. Local officials warn of further landslides as forecasted rains continue, while NGOs work to provide medical care for survivors.

Eight Killed in Landslide at Girls' School in Bangladesh Refugee Camp

A heavy monsoon storm turned a day of routine teaching into a nightmare when a landslide slammed into the Islamic study centre of a girls' school in the Cox's Bazar refugee camp. 13 people were trapped in the slurry, but eight – seven students (aged between 7 and 12) and one teacher – were killed before rescue teams could extricate them fully.

The cabling heavy rains that began Sunday have already caused a series of deadly mud‑slides across the coastal region, adding to an alarming list of casualties. The school, part of the largest Rohingya refugee settlement in the world, is situated on precarious slopes that sudden rain can render dangerous.

Rescue teams recovered 13 people from the mud, of whom five were taken to hospitals for treatment while eight died, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman confirmed. “Some of them were seven, eight, eleven or twelve years old,” district officer Panna Akhter told BBC Bangla, underscoring the loss of young lives.

The Rohingya refugees, who fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017, live in makeshift, tarpaulin and bamboo shelters on steep hillsides. Their camp houses more than a million people, many of whom experience precarious living conditions. Authorities have warned of further landslides and floods as more rain is expected in the coming days, and are evacuating families in high‑risk zones.