"I could survive because I was visiting a relative," said the boy, Rafiqul Islam. "The rain had kept me from returning home."

Monsoon floods are common in Bangladesh, a delta nation of 160 million people.

Volunteers using loudspeakers warned people about the danger of landslides during the rains, said Jaynul Bari, a government administrator in Cox's Bazar. The floods inundated dozens of villages and were disrupting communications in the region.

Flood waters covered many roads and washed away a railway bridge, snapping road and rail links between Dhaka and the three districts. An airport in Chittagong was closed after floodwaters swamped its runway, but reopened Wednesday after the rains stopped, officials said.

The government said relief workers were distributing rice and water to hundreds of displaced people.