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Four Children Killed In Floods-Stricken Krymsk

09 July 2012 21:22 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Four children have been killed in floods in Russian southern town of Krymsk, the worst affected by Saturdayâ€™s natural disaster, the top forensic official in the regional healthcare body, Nikolai Warshavets said, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

â€œAccording to the latest data, four children including a 12-tear-old girl, two eight-year-old girls and a one-year-old boy, have been killed,â€ Warshavets said.

Officials say at least 171 people died and over 5,000 houses were submerged when torrential floods hit the Krasnodar region in southern Russia on the night of July 7-8. Many of the dead were elderly people or handicapped.

Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said on Monday that the main stage of the search operation in Krymsk had been completed as the â€œsix residential areas, riversâ€™ beds and roadways had been thoroughly examined.â€

Puchkov said that about 10,000 rescuers and over 1,000 machinery units were working on the spot.

The minister also dismissed rumors that water from a local reservoir had contributed to the flooding. Russiaâ€™s Investigation Committee has said water overflowed from the reservoir, but did not contribute to the disaster.

The committee also said on Monday that disaster warning systems were not functioning properly, but said an investigation was in progress.

The regional branch of the Emergencies Ministry issued five storm warnings since July 5, including by text messages, branch head Alexander Kazilikin told RIA Novosti. Kommersant reported on Monday that many local residents never got the messages or received them in truncated form.

Meanwhile, regional administration estimated the damage caused by the floods at 4 billion rubles ($133 million).

President Vladimir Putin â€“ who faced criticism over his handling of disasters in the 2000s - flew over the devastated region on Saturday, in footage aired on state-run television. The flooding is the first major catastrophe to strike Russia since Putin returned to the presidency in May.