Rescuers, villagers search for missing after Bosnia devastating floods

Rescuers, villagers search for missing after Bosnia devastating floods

By Fedja Grulovic

Rescuers found another body on Monday in their search for survivors of devastating floods and landslides that swept across Bosnia three days ago, taking the death toll to at least 20.

Authorities in the southwestern Herzegovina-Neretva canton, which was hit hardest during the country's deadliest floods in years, confirmed on Monday that 16 people had died and nine were missing.

In the central Bosnia canton, another area hit by the flooding, three people were found dead and none reported missing, a cantonal civil protection officer told Reuters.

The rescuers, some of whom arrived from Croatia and Slovenia with search dogs, on Monday recovered the body of a man from a lake in the village of Buturovic Polje near the town of Konjic, and evacuated two people to safety by helicopter.

The regional government declined to immediately verify the death, but a government official from the town confirmed the recovery of the body to Reuters.

The rescue teams, sunk in mud up to their waists, were combing the vast flooded area searching for another three people reported as missing, including a married couple, villager Amel Sitar told Reuters, adding that his uncle was among the missing.

Sitar said that flash floods took away 10 houses, dozens of cows and sheep, a barn - everything the villagers owned. "There was a big house of my uncle, fish ponds, it was all gone in half an hour."

The main road connecting central and southern Bosnia was cut off, and the railway line connecting Bosnia with the Croatian Adriatic port of Ploce was heavily damaged, posing problems for exporting companies.

Marija Buhac, prime minister of the Herzegovina Neretva cantonal government, said on Monday the government had formed a crisis team to gather detailed information on the health situation, damages and plans for recovery.

Experts say the floods in Bosnia have been particularly damaging because years of neglect of river beds, deforestation and uncontrolled construction and exploitation of wood and stone had aggravated the impact of climate change.

"It (the flood) took everything away, my tools, a car, nothing is left," said Becir Hakalovic from Buturovic Polje. "Thanks God, the family remained."