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Russia to send 600 more rescuers to flood-hit Siberian region

MOSCOW, June 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry will send over 600 rescuers in additional reinforcements to the Altai Territory to clean up the consequences of floods that have hit the West Siberian region, ministry spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky said on Wednesday.

“Four Il -76 planes of the Emergencies Ministry will airlift 480 rescuers from Moscow and Yekaterinburg to Barnaul (capital of the Altai Territory) on Wednesday,” Drobyshevsky said.

Two Il-76 planes will deliver from Moscow to Barnaul 120 rescuers from the Emergencies Ministry’s Civil Defense Academy and 120 rescuers from the Academy of the State Fire-Fighting Service. The other two planes will bring 240 rescue workers from the Urals Institute of the State Fire-Fighting Service to the flood-hit area, the spokesman said.

In addition, 150 rescuers from the Baikal search and rescue team will arrive together with 12 pieces of equipment to Barnaul by Thursday morning, Drobyshevsky said.

“Therefore, the Emergencies Ministry’s grouping will be increased by 630 people over Wednesday. Now 6,177 rescuers of the Emergencies Ministry are already working at the scene,” the ministry’s spokesman said.

Last night, 315 rescuers were taken to Barnaul from the Volga and Urals rescue centers and the Amur training center and started their work. The rescuers were divided into teams of 10-12 each and reinforced with the teams of the ministry’s medics and psychologists, the spokesman said.

As of Wednesday morning, 2,139 subsidiary plots and 1,552 houses remained flooded in seven districts of the Altai Territory and in the cities of Barnaul, Novoaltaisk and Biysk, the Emergencies Ministry’s Siberian branch reported.

“The water has partially subside. As many as 5,428 people have been accommodated in their relatives’ houses and at temporary accommodation centers,” the Emergencies Ministry earlier said.