( AFP ) - Three thousand people have been confirmed dead in Bangladesh after a cyclone hit the south of the country, the private ATN Bangla television network said Sunday as the death toll continued to rise.
Officials in the relief and disaster management ministry had earlier put the toll from cyclone Sidr at just over 2,200 dead.
But they have stressed that many more victims are expected to be found in remote areas cut off by roads blocked by fallen trees.
There has also been no word from the string of islands off the south coast and in the Bay of Bengal, which would have also suffered the full strength of Thursday night's storm and a six-metre (20-foot) tidal wave.
ATN Bangla television said its tally was compiled on the basis of reports by its correspondents.