At least 89 persons, mainly children and elderly, were killed in 48 hours by the cold wave sweeping Bangladesh for the last nine days, while thousands more hospitalized with cold related diseases like bronchitis, pneumonia and breathing trouble, sources in hospitals and media reports said. 

"Particularly children and the elderly people in hundreds were admitted to hospitals and clinics in different parts of the country," an official in the Health Directorate demanding anonymity told Xinhua on Sunday. 

According to Health Directorate sources, 16 children died in northwestern Nilphamari district, 14 in northern Kishoreganj district and 14 in northwestern Rangpur district. The remaining death reports of children and elderly people came from different parts of the country. 

Sources in the Children's Hospital in Dhaka said it has become unmanageable because many of the physicians of the hospital were on leave because of the second largest religious festival of the Muslim Eid-ul-Azha. 

"More than 100 children are being admitted to the hospital everyday," an on duty doctor said. 

The weather office in Dhaka told Xinhua Sunday the cold wave might continue for three to four more days as the temperature dipped down to 6.2 degrees Celsius in northern part of Bangladesh. 

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