The thunderstorms hit 25 districts across the country late Tuesday and Wednesday and were accompanied by winds of up to 56 kilometres (34 miles) per hour that flattened thousands of thatched and tin houses.

The storms follow a tornado which ripped through 15 villages in northern Bangladesh on Sunday, killing at least 54 people.

Two boats caught in the storms sank and killed at least four people in the central districts of Madaripur and Chandpur, police said.

Four people were killed by lightning in the northeastern district of Habiganj, district police officials said. Fourteen people were killed when they were hit by falling trees and other objects.

Three people were injured when the helicopter they were travelling in was forced to crash-land in the southeastern district of Noakhali.

The central district of Chandpur was the worst hit with seven of the 22 deaths occurring there, said district police chief Mukhlesur Rahman. At least a dozen people needed hospital treatment.

Officials said continuous rain on Wednesday had hampered rescue work. They expect more deaths to be reported after phone lines are restored to affected areas.

Air travel was disrupted with eight flights of national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines delayed. All ferry services across the country were suspended Wednesday.

Thunderstorms and strong winds are a regular occurrence at this time of year in Bangladesh.

Sunday's tornado flattened some 3,000 homesteads and left over 8,000 homeless.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.