The flooding in Haskovo district claims at least eight victims

Yesterday, the floods in the Haskovo district claimed eight victims. The rupture of the wall of the Ivanovo Dam near the village of Bisser in the Harmanli Municipality claimed four casualties.

Two people were engulfed by the raging waters while travelling in their car near the same village. Two other victims, who were also travelling by car, were carried away by the huge water wave near the village of Borislavtsi.

Today, the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) government's efforts were focused on rescuing the village of Bisser which was flooded after the rupture of the dam wall. The place of the incident was attended by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, as well as Minister of Agriculture, Miroslav Naydenov and the Head of the Defence Headquarters, General Simeon Simeonov.

According to the PM's information, submitted at around 4 pm yesterday, over 60 people were rescued by the teams of the National Civil Protection Service and the Bulgarian Army. For this purpose, two Cougar helicopters from the Krumovo airbase were used. Most residents survived the floods by climbing on the roofs of their houses.

All homeless people were placed in nursing homes, schools and other shelters. Food, shelter, clothing has been provided for them. Yesterday afternoon, however, the PM announced that there might be more victims to be taken out of the Harmanliiska River. A National Day of Mourning will be declared after establishing the number of victims, stated Boyko Borissov.

The flooded village of Bisser has more than 800 inhabitants. The main occupation of the population there is livestock farming. The number of farm animals killed is yet to be established by the Agriculture Ministry.

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Harmanli municipality has been aware of the problem with the dam wall since 2006

The Harmanli municipality has been aware of the problem with the dam wall since 2006 but no decisive measures were taken. Yesterday, the Mayor of Bisser, Mihail Leskov, explained the negligence of the municipality with the lack of action on the part of the Bulgarian army since the dam is part of the military training ground. Defence Minister Anyu Angelov, in turn, denied the accusation and stated that the military ground is outside the territory of the dam and is actually municipal property.
The Prime Minister promised to refer the case for investigation to the Prosecutor's Office. He added that he was considering the option for the management of all dams to be transferred to Irrigation Systems SPJSC, which will monitor them effectively.

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