A cyclone slammed into Bangladesh Thursday, forcing the evacuation of one million people and killing 14, but fears of devastating damage eased when the storm weakened over land.
Bangladesh authorities also found the bodies of 22 Muslim Rohingya from neighbouring Myanmar, missing since their boat capsized Monday as they fled the oncoming storm. They said the remaining 31 missing would likely wash ashore.
The bodies, including those of 14 children and six women, were discovered on a beach near the Myanmar border and "we assume they are of the missing Rohingya" due to their clothing, Cox's Bazaar police chief Mohammad Azad Mia told AFP.
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Authorities breathed a sigh of relief after Cyclone Mahasen, packing winds of 100 kilometres (60 miles) an hour when it powered into the low-lying southeastern coast, lost much of its punch after making landfall.
"We're lucky," Shamsuddun Ahmed, deputy head of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, told AFP, adding the cyclone had not been severe and had been downgraded to a tropical depression as it headed for northeastern India.
But at least 14 people were killed by drowning and falling trees, provincial commissioner Nurul Amin told AFP as officials said tens of thousands of mud, tin and straw-built homes were flattened by pounding rain and flooding.
A million people spent the night in 3,000 cyclone shelters, schools and colleges along Bangladesh's long, winding coastline which is home to 30 million people, Chittagong district administrator Mohammad Abdullah told AFP.
Cyclone Mahasen crisis map:
