64 missing at Russian dam likely dead

MOSCOW: Sixty-four people missing after a massive pressure surge flooded part of a Russian dam are most likely dead, its owner said yesterday, indicating a likely death toll far higher than the 12 confirmed so far. "Finding anyone alive in the flood zone is unlikely, but the search continues," Vasily Zubakin, the chairman of state-controlled hydro-power company RusHydro, said through a spokesman.

A senior official at a local hospital near the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric plant said the death tally had officially risen to 12 from the 10 given on Monday night.

But 64 people were unaccounted for after a turbine room flooded early on Monday at the power station, Russia's largest. Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed this figure yesterday when he arrived on the scene.