The search for a 6-year-old boy who went missing in a rushing stream near the northern Bosnian town of Zepce, as the country got hit by severe floods followed by heavy rainfall, has continued on Wednesday.
The boy was reported missing after he fell off his bicycle and down to a rushing creek near his home in Begov Han settlement.
Locals who witnessed the accident tried to rescue the boy but due to inaccessible terrain, they soon lost the sight of him.
His bicycle was found about a hundred metres from the spot where he fell down.
“As soon as I heard what happened, it was sometime around 11 am… Another relative passed by, we went down to the river. We entered the water to search for him, and our sister-in-law and the cousin's wife followed us. We searched everything but no results,” the boy's uncle told N1.
Rescuers searched the creek bed where the boy went missing and then continued the search in the Bosna river.
“Members of mountain rescue services from Zepce and Zavidovici as well as the officers of special police, civil protection services, firefighters and locals participate in the comprehensive search,” said Bosnia's Mountain Rescue Service.
The water level in major rivers in northern and northwestern Bosnia dramatically increased over the past two days followed by heavy rainfall, triggering authorities in several cities and towns to declare the state of emergency.
Teams of the Civil Protection authorities in Bosnia's Federation entity spent the night helping the locals in affected areas to protect their homes and clean them from water and mud.
“Population is not in jeopardy. The last flooding was recorded in Busovaca and Novi Travnik. We took back some people last night to clean their equipment,” said spokesperson Majda Kovac, adding that the Civil Protection teams will continue providing assistance to the locals in the following days.
