Other Nations Help Bosnia Search for Victims in Rubble

Rescue teams from Bosnia's neighbors and European Union countries were joining efforts on Sunday to clear the rubble and find people still missing from floods and landslides that devastated sections of the Balkan country. Bosnia sought EU help after a heavy rainstorm overnight on Friday left entire areas under water and debris destroyed roads and bridges, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens, the AP reports. "We have activated our EU Civil Protection Mechanism and are sending rescue teams on the ground," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X. "This is EU solidarity in action."

Officials said that at least 10 people are unaccounted for, many of them in the village of Donja Jablanica in southern Bosnia, which was almost completely buried in rocks and rubble from a quarry on a hill above. Residents said they heard a thundering rumble and saw houses disappear before their eyes. "We heard water and rock coming down from the hill. I told my son, 'Let's go up to the attic, we don't know what's going to happen,'" recalled Munevera Dautbegovic. Regional Gov. Nermin Niksic visited the village on Sunday, promising help to rebuild. "All material damage can be compensated somehow, but human lives cannot. Grief will stay on," Niksic said.

Authorities said Croatian rescuers have arrived while a team from Serbia is expected to be deployed in the afternoon, followed by a Slovenian team with dogs. Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Czechia, and Turkey have also offered help, a government statement said. Sunday is the date of a local election in Bosnia. Election authorities have postponed voting in the flood-hit regions, but the disaster has overshadowed the vote across the country. Ismeta Bucalovic, a resident of Sarajevo, Bosnia's capital, said: "We are all overwhelmed by these flooding events. We all think only about that." The impoverished and ethnically divided nation is a candidate for membership in the 27-nation EU. Political bickering and corruption are stalling its bid, per the AP.

(More Bosnia stories.)