PETROZAVODSK, July 29. /TASS/. A dam breach at the White Sea-Baltic Canal in Karelia’s Segezha district has left seven people missing, the head of the municipality, Marina Guseva, told TASS.

Earlier reports said six people were missing and three others were injured.

"As of <...> [9:49 a.m. Moscow time (6:49 a.m. GMT - TASS)], there were seven people, including children, missing. Earlier, a girl was found alive on the bank," Guseva said. According to her, as many as 20 people have been evacuated from the site. Karelian Health Minister Mikhail Okhlopkov wrote on his page on VKontakte that three ambulance crews were working at the scene as he said that the situation was under control.

Meanwhile, four others have been found alive from the dam break, Karelian leader Artur Parfenchikov wrote on VKontakte.

Authorities in the Segezha municipality reported an incident between the canal’s 10th and 11th locks at 6:34 a.m. Moscow time (3:34 a.m. GMT - TASS). Local officials said on VKontakte that a state of emergency had been declared there. The temporary dam was built under the canal renovation project in the township of Nadvoitsy which, according to available data, as of 2023 had around 6,000 residents.

A team of 50 Russian Emergency Ministry specialists and 65 local relief workers have been dispatched.