At least 14 dead in worst Bosnian floods in years, officials say

At least 14 people died in floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday, and others were missing as torrential rain and landslides destroyed homes, roads and bridges across the center of the country, officials said.

The municipality of Jablanica, about 70 km (43 miles) southwest of the capital Sarajevo, where the deaths were reported, was completely cut off after road and railway links were destroyed.

Bosnia's inter-ethnic presidency – a Bosniak, Serb and Croat tripartite – said it requested military help for the wider Jablanica area, and engineers, rescue units and a helicopter were deployed, including to rescue 17 people from a mental hospital.

Some houses had been reduced to rubble by landslides in what appeared to be Bosnia's worst flooding since at least 2014, when more than 20 died in floods.

"At least 14 dead were found in the Jablanica area," said Darko Jukan, a spokesman for the cantonal government. "There are a lot of people reported missing.

"In some cases only parts of roofs can be seen. I cannot remember the crisis of such a magnitude since the (1992-1995) war," he said.

The town of Kiseljak in central Bosnia was inundated after a river burst its banks. Brown water lapped at the doors of businesses and homes, drone footage showed, although the waters had begun to recede on Friday afternoon.

The Civil Defense of the Bosniak-Croat Federation suggested the toll could rise.

"There is information about casualties and a number of injured and missing," it said in a statement.

Neighboring Croatia was also hit by floods on Friday, though there were no reports of casualties. Authorities issued a severe weather warning for the Adriatic coast and central regions of the country.

Montenegro and Serbia issued similar warnings.

(Cover: Water floods the area following heavy rains in the town of Kiseljak, central Bosnia, October 4, 2024. /CFP)