Five days after Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh, an overwhelming stench filled the air Tuesday as rotting bodies and animal carcasses floated in pools of stagnant water around the coastal city of Patharghata. Villagers complained about lack of government help and suggested the official death toll estimates were far lower than the reality they see, according to CNN's Cal Perry who arrived there Tuesday.Despite grim assessments from relief workers arriving in previously unreached areas, military chief Gen. Moeen Ahmad estimated the number of people killed would reach about 5,000. The Bangladesh Red Crescent chairman has said the death toll could reach 10,000.
The last official death toll from Cyclone Sidr, one of the worst storms to strike the impoverished country in recent years, issued Monday was 3,114, but many areas of the South Asian nation remained unreached by relief workers.
Gen. Ahmad made his estimate Tuesday as he visited a food distribution site on a small island off southern Bangladesh that was swamped by the storm, destroying 95 percent of the 500 homes and the whole rice harvest, CNN's Dan Rivers reported.
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