(ANSA-AFP) - KISELJAK, OCT 4 - Heavy rains that flooded towns
and touched off landslides left at least 14 people dead in
Bosnia on Friday, authorities said. Jablanica, some 70
kilometres (43 miles) southwest of Sarajevo, appeared to bear
the brunt of the 24 hours of downpours, which cut it off from
the outside world. Photos on local media from the Jablanica
region showed mudslides coming up to roofs of houses and a
mosque with only its minaret sticking out. "For now, the bodies
of 14 people have been found" in the region of Jablanica,
spokesman Darko Jukan told AFP, adding that the toll was likely
to rise. Jablanica "cannot be entered or exited at the moment",
a mountain rescue service said of the town of around 4,000
people. A number of people from the area were reported missing,
the authorities said while some injured were evacuated with a
helicopter from the European Union peacekeeping force (EUFOR).
At mid-Friday the situation was the most critical in the village
of Donja Jablanica that remained cut off, the spokesman said.
Several roads and bridges in the region collapsed, he said. In
Kiseljak, some 20 kilometres west of Sarajevo, houses, gardens
and cars were under water, an AFP journalist reported.
(ANSA-AFP).
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