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Patriarch Kirill I to conduct liturgy on day of national mourning

A total of 14 people died on the spot and another 29 were injured

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, July 9 (Itar-Tass) – Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill I is expected to lead a liturgy in Moscow’s downtown Cathedral of the Savior Monday morning in memory of more than 170 people killed by severe floods in southern Russia and the fourteen pilgrims who died in a road accident in Ukraine.

Dr Vladimir Legoida, the chief of Moscow Patriarchate’s information department recalled that Kirill I already prayed for the victims of the two disasters Sunday, July 9.

According to the updated information, unprecedented floods in the southern Krasnodar territory have taken away the lives of 171 people, most of them residents of the Krymsk district. First funerals of the victims were held Sunday.

Saturday, July 7, a bus carrying a group of Russian pilgrims veered into the oncoming lane and flipped over on a road linking the northern Ukrainian city of Chernigov and Kiev. The pilgrims were going to the world-famous Eastern Orthodox convent in the town of Pochayev in western Ukraine.

A total of 14 people died on the spot and another 29 were injured.

Upon a decree issued by President Vladimir Putin, Monday has been declared a day of mourning across Russia. The authorities have asked performing companies, as well as radio stations and TV channels to scrap entertainment shows for the day.

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