DHAKA, July 14: An outbreak of diarrhoea has been reported among thousands of flood victims in Bangladesh as the death toll in the week-long torrential rains rose to 81 while army and civil officials continued relief and rescue work across the country, officials said.

Nineteen more people were killed yesterday in incidents of landslides, and wall collapse in the badly hit Chittagong region and North-western Bangladesh.

While 13 were killed in Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tract districts, four deaths were reported from Kurigram, the daily Sangbad said.

The Bangla Bazar Patrika reported thousands of people have been affected by diarrhoea in seven districts, including Bandarban and Rangpur in the north.Meanwhile, the fate of 19 people whose boat capsized on Saturday in the flooded Sangu river in the worst-hit Bandarban hill districtwas still not known.

Air force helicopters have been pressed into service to drop food packets to the more than five lakh people affected by the floods and landslides.Medical teams were attending to the people affected in the epidemic and water purification tablets were being distributed, the paper said.

Road communication between Dhaka and 16 northern districts have been disrupted and Dhaka-Sylhet and Sylhet-Comilla routes snapped yesterday due to a bridge collapse. The flood situation has deteriorated in seven disricts in northern region besides Jakigunge in the tea growing Sylhet district, eastern Comilla district and southern region of Chittagong districts.

Most areas in the worst-hit districts were submerged under water and some parts were devoured by the swelling rivers. Standing crops on thousands of acres have also been damaged, the reports said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.