At least 22 people dead in devastating floods in Bosnia

At least 22 people dead in devastating floods in Bosnia

By Daria Sito-Sucic

At least 22 people have died in severe floods and landslides which wiped out whole villages across Bosnia and Herzegovina and caused huge damage to the impoverished Balkan country, officials said on Tuesday.

A key transport infrastructure connecting central and southern Bosnia has been severely damaged, companies and homes submerged by flash floods and cattle swept away.

Damage estimates are at early stages as rescuers still search for survivors in the area around the southern towns of Konjic and Jablanica which were worst hit.

Another body was recovered from a lake in the village of Buturovic Polje on Tuesday, taking the death toll to 22, a local official said. Six people are still missing.

Darko Juka, a spokesman for the government of the Herzegovina-Neretva canton, said it was too early to talk about figures but that the damage will be huge.

The railway line connecting the Bosnian towns with the Croatian port of Ploce was completely destroyed in a 17km-long section towards the southern town of Mostar.

A 200 meter-long stretch of railway track could be seen suspended in the air.

"A daily loss just from the fall in revenues from cargo and passenger transportation amounts to 280,000 Bosnian marka ($157,000)," said Samir Kadric, a spokesman for the regional railways company Zeljeznice Federacije BiH.

"It is quite certain that the damages caused by this disaster will amount to dozens of millions marka," Kadric said, adding that the company will begin work to repair the tracks next week.

Many Bosnian exporting companies, such as ArcelorMittal Zenica, Adriatic Metals and Aluminium Industries, usually move their products to the port of Ploce by railway.

U.K.-based Adriatic Metals, which operates the silver, lead and barite mine in central Bosnia, said it will use road transport until the railway track is fully repaired.

"Adriatic expects no impact on ongoing operations and is confident in utilising road logistics as a temporary solution," it said in a statement to Reuters.