The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Patuakhali

With 54 bodies recovered Sunday morning, the death toll rose to 315 in the district from the catastrophic cyclone "Sidr" that battered the south and southwestern region of the country on Thursday midnight.

The death toll in the district might cross 600 as a large number of people still remained missing, said a source at Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.

Meanwhile, the government distributed cash Tk 3 lakh and 59 metric tons of rice among the cyclone-affected people in the district. Local sources said road communication from here to Barisal was restored after the ferry service at Lebukhali resumed in the morning. Major disruption in power supply along with acute scarcity of drinking water and food has compounded the miseries of the people, they said.