Cyclone in eastern India kills 31

April 15, 2010

At least 31 people were killed by a cyclone in West Bengal, India, according to officials. The storm uprooted trees and destroyed several huts in the North Dinajpur district of the state.

Civil defence Minister Srikumar Mukherjee reported that the storm hit the state late Tuesday in the North Dinajpur district of West Bengal. The storm snapped telephone and electric wires in the area. Mukherjee added that hundreds of people suffered injuries in the district, which is nearly 315 miles (500 kilometers) northeast of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Hematabad, Raiganj and Kiran Dighi were the worst affected; police and rescue officials have recovered the bodies of 31 people from the areas, he told to the Associated Press. 50,000 mud huts were destroyed by the storm.

P.K. Dutta, the additional district magistrate, commented that the Karandighi block reported eighteen deaths, while eight people died in Raiganj during the storm that occurred at midnight. Three were killed at Hemtabad and two at Kaliaganj, he added. Two other blocks, namely Itahar and Chakulia, were partly affected. He expected the death toll to rise as information from all affected areas was not immediately available.