The toll from flooding sparked by a breach of a huge Ukrainian dam has risen to 41 in areas under Russian control, an official said Wednesday.
“Unfortunately the number of dead has risen to 41,” said Andrei Alekseyenko, a senior official with Russian occupation authorities. In areas under Ukrainian control, at least 16 people have died and 31 are missing, according to latest figures from Kyiv.
The 6 June breach of the Russia-controlled Kakhovka dam inundated huge swathes of the Kherson region, forcing thousands to flee and sparking fears of an environmental disaster.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of blowing up the dam on the Dnipro River, while Russia has blamed Ukraine.
Meanwhile a United Nations official said on Wednesday that the mines dislodged by the flood waters from Kakhovka dam in Ukraine could float downstream and reach as far as Black Sea beaches, Reuters reports.
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Paul Heslop, head of UN Mine Action at the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva that PMF-1 mines, also known as “butterfly” mines, were light enough to float downstream for a large distance.
He said: “I would not be surprised to see that those mines have either got down as far as the sea or over the coming months, as the water is continuing to flow, will be transported down there. Unfortunately, we could see anti-personnel pressure mines washing up on beaches around the Black Sea.”
The collapse of the Russian-held dam on 6 June unleashed floodwaters across southern Ukraine and Russian-occupied areas of the Kherson region, killing more than 40 people and destroying homes and farmland.
AFP
