Rescue teams search for missing after floods, landslides kill at least 16 in Bosnia

JABLANICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Rescue teams on Saturday searched for those still missing after flash floods and landslides hit parts of Bosnia, killing at least 16 people and injuring scores more.

Construction machines worked to remove piles of rocks and debris covering the central town of Jablanica after the rainstorm early on Friday.

Huge quantities of rain fell in the area around Jablanica and nearby Konjic, causing sudden floods that broke into people's homes as they were sleeping.

Surging waters also triggered landslides that collapsed roads and hills, covering villages in mud and cutting off entire areas.

Bosnian media are reporting that rocks from a nearby quarry fell on the village of Donja Jablanica, burying houses.

Alka Gusic, a resident of Donja Jablanica, lost her brother and his entire family while her own son has been hospitalized. Overnight on Friday, she said, a frightening rumble woke her up from her sleep.

“I thought it was an earthquake,” said Gusic. She waited until morning to venture out. "I saw my brother's son being pulled out. He was lying on the ground – it was obvious (he was dead).”

“God help us," she cried. "I lost four of them, house destroyed completely, no one stayed alive, no one.”

Officials have said that at least 16 people are confirmed dead so far, including a baby. At least 10 are still missing while dozens are injured.

Rescuers sealed off Jablanica, banning any entry for outsiders while the search took place. Some houses were submerged up to their roofs and as the water withdrew, rescuers could be seen walking over piles of rubble left behind.

Near the town of Konjic that was also hit by the storm, officials said some villages remained cut off on Saturday.

“Kilometers of roads no longer exist, nearly all bridges have been destroyed,” Husein Hodzic from the local civil protection unit told regional N1 television. “There is no electricity, all power poles have been swept away. There are no phone lines.”

Bosnia's election authorities said local elections set for Sunday will be postponed in the flood-hit municipalities.

Human-caused climate change increases the intensity of rainfall because warm air holds more moisture. This summer, the Balkans were also hit by long-lasting record temperatures, causing a drought. Scientists said the dried-out land has hampered the absorption of floodwaters.

Flooding was also reported in Croatia and Montenegro in the previous days but caused less damage and no fatalities.

Jovana Gec contributed to this report from Belgrade, Serbia.

Rescuers search for missing people after floods and landslides in the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Rescuers search for missing people after floods and landslides in the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Rescuers search for missing people after floods and landslides in the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A damaged car is seen after flood hit the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Rescuers search for missing people after floods and landslides hit the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

People inspect a damaged house after floods and landslides in the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A damaged car is seen after flood hit the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A Bosnian soldier inspects a damaged house after floods and landslides in the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A damaged car is seen after flood hit the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A damaged house is seen after floods and landslides in the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Rescuers search for missing people after floods and landslides in the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

A damaged car is seen after flood hit the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Rescuers search for missing people after floods and landslides in the village of Donja Jablanica, Bosnia, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

An Israeli strike on a refugee camp in north Lebanon has killed Hamas official Saeed Atallah Ali and his family, the militant group said Saturday. The early morning strike came a day after another Israeli airstrike cut off a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, leaving two huge craters on either side of the road.

Israel began a ground incursion Tuesday into Lebanon against the Hezbollah militant group. The Israeli military said nine soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Here is the latest:

CAIRO — Palestinian medical officials say Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza early Saturday have killed at least nine people, including two children.

One strike hit a group of people in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, killing at least five people, including two children, according to the Health Ministry’s Ambulance and Emergency service.

Another strike hit a house in the northern part of Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four people, the Awda hospital said. The strike also left a number of wounded people, it said.

The Israeli military did not have any immediate comment on the strikes, but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas.

Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the almost year-long war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.

CAIRO — The Israeli military on Saturday warned residents in parts of central Gaza to evacuate, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian militants.

The warnings cover areas along a strategic corridor in central Gaza, which was at the heart of obstacles to a ceasefire deal earlier this summer. The military warned Palestinians in areas of Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, located along the Netzarim corridor, to evacuate to an along Gaza's shore called Muwasi, which the military has designated a humanitarian zone. It’s unclear how many Palestinians are currently living in the areas affected by the order, parts of which were evacuated previously.

Less than an hour after the evacuation order, Palestinians reported Israel’s artillery shelling and smoke bombing in the northern areas of Nuseirat camp. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza where they fought earlier battles against Hamas and other militants since the start of the war one year ago.

The vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people has been displaced in the war, often multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps.

Others have remained in their homes despite being ordered to leave, saying nowhere in the isolated coastal territory feels safe.

BEIRUT — An Israeli strike on a refugee camp in north Lebanon has killed a Hamas official and his family, the militant group said Saturday.

Hamas said in a statement that the early Saturday strike on the Beddawi refugee camp struck the home of Saeed Atallah Ali, an official with Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades. Ali’s wife, Shaymaa Azzam, and their two daughters, Zeinab and Fatima — whom the statement described as children — were also killed in the attack.

Beddawi camp is near the northern city of Tripoli. It was the first such strike on the camp in the recent conflict.

Israel has killed several Hamas officials in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023.

SEOUL, South Korea — A military plane evacuating 97 people from Lebanon arrived in South Korea on Saturday.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the group on the plane includes South Korean nationals and their family members. There are about 30 South Koreans left in Lebanon besides diplomats and embassy workers who are staying.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed officials Wednesday to send military aircraft to conflict areas in the Middle East as he called a meeting to discuss the impact of the intensified fighting in the region. There are about 480 South Korean nationals living in Israel and 110 in Iran.

Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout pro-Palestine and anti-Israel slogans during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians and against the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, at Mirgund north village of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

South Korean nationals and their family members arrive after being evacuated from Lebanon with a South Korea's military aircraft at the Seoul airport in Seongnam, South Korea, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (Korea Pool/Yonhap via AP)

Draped in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad flags, mourners take the last look at the bodies of 18 Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike during their funeral in Tulkarem, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout pro-Palestine and anti-Israel slogans during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians and against the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, at Mirgund north village of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)