At least ten people have been killed and over 70 injured as a result of a violent thunderstorm in central Russia’s Volga Region, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM) said on Sunday.
In a statement, the ministry said that most of the fatalities were recorded in the Republic of Mary El in the mid-Volga Region, where extreme weather ravaged a camping site in woods in local lakelands. It said that a total of eight people had died and 29 were injured, adding that all the wounded are being taken care of.
Earlier, Yury Zaitsev, the head of Mary El, said that there were three children among the dead.
EMERCOM pointed out that many tourists had not taken the weather forecast into account and had also failed to register with the ministry, adding that there were several hundred campers in the lake area.
The ministry also shared pictures from the scene, showing several fallen large trees strewn across the encampment, with one car shown wrecked by the impact. The photos also featured first responders sawing tree trunks into pieces. In total, 93 officers and 30 vehicles are involved in the response efforts, it added.
According to EMERCOM, the storm disrupted the energy supply in 520 settlements across eight regions, with about 50 buildings, some residential and some socially significant, sustaining damage. It also warned that the spell of bad weather was not over, urging local residents to refrain from hiking and swimming, and calling on them to stay away from trees and shaky structures.