Belgrade, 6 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Disaster relief workers continue to search for possible casualties of the floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the past two days.

The mountain village of Jablanica, approximately 30 kilometres north of the city of Mostar, was the most severely affected. Heavy rain and storms caused significant rock debris to bury houses. The boulders are believed to have come from a quarry located above.

Meanwhile, authorities have revised the total death toll down from the originally reported 18 to 16. Some cases were mistakenly registered multiple times, Nermin Nikšić, the prime minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) - one of the two entities of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina - said on state television BHRT.

Twelve people alone died in Jablanica due to flooding, a mudslide, and rockfalls, Nikšić said, adding that four more people lost their lives in other flooded areas in the vicinity.

The police are now also investigating the extent to which the technical condition of the quarry contributed to the scale of the disaster in Jablanica. "One does not need a special investigator to see that in this settlement they were victims of the collapse of the entire hill," said Nikšić.

Roads in the flood-affected region were temporarily impassable. The water washed away the earth beneath railway tracks. In several places, disaster relief workers used boats to bring people to safety.