At least ten people, including three children, were killed on Sunday after high winds tore through central Russia. According to Russia's emergency services, eight of the dead were part of a group of tourists camping close to Lake Yalchik in the Mari-El region when the storm hit on Saturday.
The strong winds caused a large number of trees to fall in the area, including where the group's tents had been pitched on a stretch of the wild beach inside the Mariy Chodra National Park, regional leader Yuri Zaitsev wrote on social media.
He said that three children were among the dead. Russia's investigative committee has opened a criminal case to determine whether unsafe or sub-standard services provided by the park's management company contributed to the deaths. Across the wider Volga Federal District, 76 people were injured in the storm, with thousands of households losing power, emergency services said.
Drone attack on Moscow damages buildings
Notably, the fatal deaths were reported on the same day when several buildings were hit by drones. Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident. The attacks, which Ukraine didn’t acknowledge in keeping with its security policy, reflected a pattern of more frequent and deeper cross-border strikes the Kyiv government has launched since starting a counteroffensive against Russian forces in June.
A precursor and the most dramatic of the strikes happened in May at the Kremlin itself, the seat of power in the capital, Moscow.
Sunday’s was the fourth such strike on the capital region this month and the third this week, showing Moscow’s vulnerability as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month.
(With inputs from agency)
