A cold snap that saw temperatures drop on Thursday to their lowest point in Bangladesh’s post-independence history has killed around 80 people, officials said.
The weather office said the lowest temperature was recorded at three degrees Celsius in the northern town of Syedpur and the Red Crescent said hospitals were packed with patients suffering respiratory illness.
Shah Alam, deputy head of the weather office, said the last time the temperature had dropped below three degrees was in February 1968 when Bangladesh was still part of Pakistan.
“The temperature is the lowest in Bangladesh’s history,” he told reporters.
The Red Crescent Society said impoverished rural areas had been worst hit as many people could not afford warm clothing or heating.
“They are not prepared for such extreme weather. Many could not even go to work,” the society’s general-secretary Abu Bakar said.