They prayed for salvation of the departed souls and conveyed sympathy to the members of the bereaved families. They also prayed for early recovery of the injured.

They called on all the affluent people of the society to come forward to help rehabilitate the victims side by side government efforts.

Meanwhile, Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh (FNB) also expressed deep shock at the huge loss of lives in a separate statement.

Most of these unfortunate victims and the wounded are very poor who had taken shelter in the temporary huts built by the sides of the hills.

Excessive rain is not the only reason behind such incidents. Indiscriminate hill cutting by a few powerful greedy self-seekers are no less responsible for such tragic incidents and the poor pay with their lives, the release added.

NGO Federation urged the government to take effective measures to stop hill cutting immediately and demanded stern action against persons responsible.