SARAJEVO—According to officials on Tuesday, at least 22 people have perished in terrible floods and landslides that have destroyed entire villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and severely damaged the poor Balkan nation.
There has been significant damage to a vital transportation network that links central and southern Bosnia, with houses and businesses being inundated by sudden floods and animals being carried away.
Early damage assessments are being made while rescuers continue looking for survivors in the vicinity of the hardest-hit southern towns, Konjic and Jablanica.
The number of fatalities has now reached 22, according to a local official, when another corpse was found in a lake in the town of Buturovic Polje on Tuesday. There are still six unaccounted for deaths.
The administration of the Herzegovina-Neretva canton's spokesperson, Darko Juka, stated that while it is too soon to discuss specific numbers, the damage would undoubtedly be significant.
A 17-kilometer stretch of the railway line that ran from the Bosnian cities to the Croatian port of Ploce was entirely wrecked, heading toward the town of Mostar in the south.
There was a 200-meter section of railroad track hanging in midair.
“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.
The majority of Bosnian exporters, including ArcelorMittal Zenica, Adriatic Metals, and Aluminium Industries, typically transport their goods by rail to the port of Ploce.
Until the railway track is completely restored, Adriatic Metals, a U.K.-based company that runs the silver, lead, and barite mine in central Bosnia, will carry its cargo by road.
“Adriatic expects no impact on ongoing operations and is confident in utilizing road logistics as a temporary solution,” it said in a statement to Reuters.
