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14 killed, 13 missing in East Siberia floods

1,258 people have sought medical assistance in the flood-stricken areas

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. Fourteen people have been killed and another 13 have gone missing after heavy floods in East Siberia’s Irkutsk Region, the Russian Emergencies Ministry stated on Tuesday.

"In a joint operation carried out with the Russian Interior Ministry in the Irkutsk Region, 14 people were found dead, four of them died in the Nizhneudinsky district, nine in the Tulunsky district and another one in the Tayshetsky district," a spokesman for the ministry said.

Forensic tests have confirmed that six people died of drowning and another one of hypothermia, he passed away in hospital," the spokesman said. Thirteen bodies have been identified.

Another 13 people have gone missing, including a child, and ten of them are citizens of the Tulunsky district and three others lived in the Nizhneudinsky district.

According to the Irkutsk emergency medicine center, 1,258 people have sought medical assistance in the flood-stricken areas. Some 191 people have been hospitalized with hypothermia, including 38 children.

Floods in the Irkutsk region started after torrential rains at the end of June. A state of emergency was introduced in the flood-affected areas. The water level in the Iya River has raised seven meters above the critical mark. As many as 83 settlements in six districts have been affected by the disaster. More than 6,600 dwelling houses, which accommodate more than 32,000 people, have been flooded. Overnight to June 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting in the city of Bratsk on the situation in the flooded areas.