New Delhi: At least 125 persons have died after heavy rain triggered landslides in three hill districts of southeastern Bangladesh. Four soldiers were among the victims whose bodies were recovered in rescue operations, said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief's control room in Dhaka on June 13 night.

The highest casualties are in Rangamati with 35 dead, followed by 27 in Chittagong and 7 in Bandarban.

In an earlier press conference, Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya said around 4,000 people had been moved to 18 shelters set up by the government.

A soldier was still missing in the landslide which killed four personnel and injured ten more near the army's Manikchhari camp in Rangamati.

Unconfirmed sources however, said several more people were killed overnight as they drowned, electrocuted or died in wall collapses.

Reports and officials said in many cases the casualties took place as people were asleep to be buried under tons of earths as the downpours soften the hills while the rescuers found most of them to be minor children.