When the civil war in East Pakistan began at the end of March, thousands of civilians fled across the Indian border into West Bengal. By last week the refugees numbered at least 4 million. And with the influx came an epidemic of cholera.

Last week the number of deaths from cholera in the unsanitary, rain‐drenched refugee camps had passed 3,200, and India's Minister of Health, K. K. Das, predicted that it could reach 30,000 or 40,000 within days. “God knows what would happen if the epidemic spread to Calcutta,” said Mr. Das. Yesterday, authorities revealed that 20 refugees had died of cholera at a temporary camp on the edge of Calcutta International Airport. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi flew to the teeming city of 8 million people chronically short of fresh water for a conference on this “very grave situation.”