DHAKA, Nov 17 (bdnews24.com) – The death toll from the devastating cyclone that battered the country climbed to 1,784, according to the latest tally released by the disaster management ministry Saturday night.

Earlier in a press conference in the Armed Forces Division in Dhaka cantonment Saturday, Lt Col Main Ullah Chowdhury said that around 4,000 people had been injured in the storm across the coastal region.

Rescuers struggled to reach thousands of survivors Saturday, a day after cyclone Sidr ravaged the southern arc, officials said.

Chowdhury said more than 3,000 troops of the Infantry Division along with members of the Bangladesh Navy and the Air Force took part in the rescue and relief operations.

Four well-equipped army medical teams were deployed while nine helicopters of the Bangladesh Air Force rushed relief to many worst-hit areas, including Heron Point in Sundarbans, Dublarchar, Kuakata, Mothbaria, Sharan Khola and Pathar Ghata.

About 66 tonnes of relief—mainly dry food, drinking water and emergency survival kits–have been air-lifted by the army helicopters until Saturday, he said.

Brig Gen Qazi Abidus Samad, director (Operations and Plans) of the Armed Forces Division, said they were trying to handle the post-disaster situation with own resources.

But, he said, there was scope for assistance from friendly nations including the United States to reconstruct infrastructure.

He said a medical team of the US army, which was in Comilla for a joint exercise with Bangladesh Army, had shown their interest to stand beside cyclone victims.

“The government is yet to make a final decision. We expect a decision in a day or two on the matter,” Samad said, adding that the US team was in Dhaka now and halted their return to the country.

The death count from the cyclone, which measured more powerful than the 1991 elemental swoop, was still much less than previous death tolls from cyclones.

Tens of thousands of people passed tense hours without power although the government struggled to ensure electricity through what came to be known as “load management” much across the country.

Car users, cabbies and autorickshaw drivers stretched queues for gas in the city and elsewhere Saturday morning, as hours of blackouts halted the operations of filling stations through Friday night.

Naval ships scoured the pummelled coastal areas for hundreds of people reported missing and to clear river channels clogged with sunken boats and vessels to restore normal navigation, officials said.

Helicopters flew sorties to devastated areas, dropping food, drinking water and medicine for the survivors.