Floods kill 11 and maroons millions

Bogra: Eleven people, mostly children, drowned in flood waters in northern Bangladesh, officials said yesterday, while up to five million people have been marooned in the low-lying, disaster-prone country.

Half of Bangladesh is submerged and officials said they expected the flood waters from the tributaries of the Brahmaputra and Padma rivers to reach the eastern suburbs of Dhaka in the next two days.

"We expect the flood situation to deteriorate further over next few days," said M.M. Mustafa Sarwar of the Bangladesh Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.