Mungdaw: Floods and landslides triggered by incessant heavy rain killed 26 people, including children and destroyed many houses on Tuesday on the western Burma border, especially in Buthidaung and Maungdaw, said local and official sources.

"In Maungdaw Township, a family of seven from Aut Pruma Village was killed in a landslide and two children in Ray Myat Taung Village were killed in floods. Eleven houses in U Shwe Kya Village were destroyed in a landslide. But I have not received word yet of other incidents in our township," a social worker in Maungdaw said.

Seventeen villagers in Buthidaung Township near Maungdaw were killed and many people are missing following a landslide in the area.

Arakan State, particularly northern Arakan, has received 12 inches of rain since Saturday, causing devastating landslides and flooding throughout the region, according to the Burmese meteorological department in Sittwe.

Over 250 families in two wards in Maungdaw were shifted by local authorities for shelter in safer locations after the wards began to get inundated.

A government employee said, "We shifted over 250 families from Bomu and Wra Thet Villages in Ward No. 4 in Maungdaw to a government high school and middle school early in the morning on Tuesday after water began to enter the ward due to incessant rains."

The villagers are still sheltered in the schools and government officials distributed food to them yesterday.

In Bangladesh, at least 52 people, including five army personnel, have been killed in landslides caused by the incessant rain, report Bangladesh officials.

According to refugee sources, many huts were damaged in heavy rains in the unofficial Lada refugee camp for Burmese Muslims in Teknaf Township in Bangladesh. Many refugees continue to live in their damaged houses in the camp.