"The six bodies which were retrieved belong to a family. But we fear the disaster has perished all members of at least three families living in shanties on the foothills of Tigerpass area of the port city", a police official told PTI over phone.
A local journalist said fire service people retrieved the body of a 35-year-old woman along with her three daughters and a minor son but her husband miraculously escaped the death.
Deputy Commissioner and administrative chief of Chittagong Foyez Ahmad said army
engineers were called out to retrieve the other bodies removing tonnes of sludge.
The incident occurred hours after Mayor of Chittagong Mohammad Monjur Alam visited the slum and asked the people to take shelter in a nearby school as incessant downpours exposed the shanties on the hill slopes to landslide risks, television reports said.
Landslides caused by heavy downpours appeared to be a growing concern particularly in southeastern region while environmental watchdogs were virtually screaming for years against hill cuts to develop infrastructures defying rules.
An expert study said over 100 hills disappeared while hundreds others were partially destructed in recent years to cause frequent mudslides.
Bangladesh witnessed its worst landslide in recent decades on June 13, 2007 when 123 people were buried alive under tones of mud rolled out from the hills on the dwelling houses built at hill slopes at the southeastern port city of Chittagong.