Floods In Bosnia, 14 People Died

UNSPLASH/Bernd ILLUSTRATION Dittrich

JAKARTA - A total of 14 people died in floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Several people were also reported missing when heavy rains and landslides destroyed houses, roads and bridges in the country's center.

The city of Jablanica, about 70 km southwest of the capital Sarajevo, where many casualties were reported, had their access completely cut off after the highways and trains were destroyed.

The inter-ethnic Bosnian presidency - which is Bosnian, Serbia and Croatian tripartite - said it requested military assistance for the wider Jablanica region for rescue.

Several houses have been destroyed to debris from landslides, which appears to be the worst flood in Bosnia since 2014, when more than 20 people died as a result of the flood.

"14 people were found dead in the Jablanica area," said Darko Jukan, a spokesman for the regional government.

There were many people who were reported missing. In some cases, only a part of the roof was visible. I don't remember a crisis of this size since the war (1992-1995)," he said.

In an emergency session, the Bosnian central government said it would allocate funds for the recovery of affected areas.

The government of the Bosnia-Croatian Federation announced the state of natural disasters in flood-affected areas and formed a crisis committee to help ease the situation there.

Neighboring Croatia and Serbia also offered Bosnia assistance in rescue operations.

Aldin Brasnjic, head of Civil Defense administration at the Bosnia-Croatian federation, said rescue teams were unable to reach a number of villages as blocked roads and rain would complicate their efforts.