Death Toll From Cyclone That Hit Bangladesh Rises to 167

Rescuers sifting through collapsed homes and twisted forests recovered 37 bodies Wednesday, raising the death toll from Monday’s cyclone to 167, officials said.

The death toll could pass 200, they said, as hundreds of people were still missing after high winds and heavy rains battered the Bay of Bengal coast and offshore islands.

More than 7,000 people have been injured, many critically, and more than half a million made homeless, according to official estimates.

Officials supervising rescue and relief efforts said more than half of the dead were refugees from Myanmar, killed when the storm blew down 16 of their 18 camps.

Camp officials said food, medicine and other supplies had been washed away or damaged by heavy rain.

“The damage is much worse than I expected,” said Dan Prewitt, spokesman for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

“In effect, the camps are almost completely wiped out,” he said Wednesday after visiting some of the camps. “But, despite the devastation, loss of life in the camps has been low.”

Prewitt praised the government of Bangladesh for its quick relief efforts, saying they have been “effectively coordinated with the efforts by non-government organizations and aid agencies.”

“I have worked in many countries where there was lack of such coordination,” he said.

Local officials said virtually no house was left standing in affected villages. Uprooted trees and electrical poles blocked highways, witnesses said.