KISELJAK, OCT 4 – Heavy rains that flooded cities and triggered landslides killed at least 14 people in Bosnia today, authorities said.
Jablanica, about 70 kilometers southwest of Sarajevo, was reportedly the worst affected by the 24-hour heavy rain, which cut off its connection with the outside world.
Pictures in local media from the Jablanica province showed mudslides almost reaching the roofs of houses and a mosque with only its minaret visible.
“For now, the bodies of 14 people have been found in the Jablanica region,” spokesman Darko Jukan told AFPadding that the number of victims may increase.
Jablanica “cannot be entered or exited for the time being”, the mountain rescue service said of the town of about 4,000 inhabitants.
Several people from the area were reported missing, authorities said, while some of the injured were evacuated by helicopter from the European Union’s (EUFOR) peacekeeping force.
At midday, the most critical situation occurred in the village of Donja Jablanica, which is still cut off, the spokesman said.
Several roads and bridges in the province collapsed, he said.
In Kiseljak, about 20 kilometers west of Sarajevo, houses, parks and cars were flooded, a journalist reported. AFP.
A large part of Bosnia’s population is at risk from major floods and landslides, the federal civil protection administration said in a statement.
Firefighters, police and utility companies are working in affected areas, but more help is needed to mitigate the effects of the storm and rain, the federal public protection administration warned.
Bosnia’s Prime Minister Nermin Niksic wrote on the social media platform X that the situation is very serious as many citizens are still trapped in their homes. – AFP
