Bangladesh searches for officer

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The Bangladeshi navy says it has launched its biggest rescue operation ever to search for a missing officer who went missing in a storm this week.

The storm swept through the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday, hitting both Bangladesh and India and killing at least 64 people.

Bad weather is hampering search operations, local officials said.

The storm brought heavy rains, high seas and destruction and hundreds of fisherman were also reported missing.

A spokesperson for the Bangladeshi navy said helicopters and six ships were taking part in the operation to trace Lieutenant Commander Firoz Kabir.

He was the only missing crew member after his patrol boat ran aground in the storm.

Flooding

The bodies of at least 18 Bangladeshis have been found since the storm, although unconfirmed reports said another 30 people had been discovered on Thursday night.

At least 31 people died in heavy rains and flooding in India's south-eastern state of Andhra Pradesh.

And at least 15 people were killed and 300 injured after a tornado hit the Sundarbans delta - an expanse of mangrove forests in India's West Bengal state.

Dozens of Bangladeshi fishing boats are thought to have sunk.

A BBC correspondent in the capital, Dhaka, has said many fisherman go out to sea without radio equipment and may be sheltering on remote islands.