Twenty-five people have been killed as a result of the flooding following the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam collapse in the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, head of the occupation authorities in the region Vladimir Saldo reported.
Moreover, 17 people are missing, while 95 more are injured.
According to Saldo, 7,800 thousand people, including 558 children, have been evacuated from the flooded Novokakhovksy, Oleshkyn, and Holoprystansky since the beginning of the rescue operation.
The water level is said to have dropped to 0 and 0.1 metres in the Oleshkyn and Holoprystanky districts respectively, while in the Novokakhovsky district it has remained steady at five metres.
The last time the Ukrainian authorities revealed the death toll in the flood on the right bank of the Dnipro River was on 12 June when only ten deaths were reported. The tragedy has now taken 35 lives in total.
Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko told the BBC that the pollution levels in the Dnipro is 28,000 times higher than the acceptable benchmarks. According to him, all the water below the Kakhovka dam is not suitable for drinking or showering.
“That is why showering, fishing is prohibited, you cannot drink this water or give it to livestock. When a person showers in such water, disease [cholera, hepatitis, parasites] outbreaks can potentially emerge,” Liashko claims.
People also should refrain from swimming and tanning in the Black Sea and Ukraine’s coastline as objects like animal corpses have washed up on the shore there.
The Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam collapsed in the Kherson region on the morning of 6 June. Ukrainian and Russian authorities blamed each other for the incident.
Researchers of Norway’s NORSAR institute recorded seismic signals confirming that an explosion took place in the area. Furthermore, according to The New York Times, US spy satellites detected an explosion at the Kakhovka plant just before it collapsed.
Volunteers reported that the Russian Emergencies Ministry did not evacuate Oleshky residents seeking help, while activists themselves who wanted to help the locals were not allowed into the town. On 10 June, reports emerged that relatives lost contact with at least 395 people from the settlements of Oleshky, Hola Prystan, Krynki, and Kohany.