[caption id="attachment_96744" align="alignright" width="254"] Serbian army soldiers evacuate people in a boat in the flooded town of Obrenovac, southwest of the capital Belgrade, on May 17, 2014.[/caption]
Iran has offered assistance to flood-hit Serbia, where heavy rains have turned the Sava River into a deadly torrent and caused the worst floods in more than a century.
During a meeting with Serbian Ambassador to Iran Aleksandar Tasic in Tehran on Monday, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) Seyyed Ahmad Mousavi expressed sympathy with people of Serbia over the devastating flood in their Balkan country, and voiced Iran’s readiness to send humanitarian aid to those affected by the natural calamity.

He expressed hope that further Tehran-Belgrade cooperation would bring closer the Iranian and Serbian nations, stating that more practical measures could be taken in light of exploitation of potentials.

Mousavi also noted that Iran’s humanitarian aid will be sent to Serbia as soon as possible, and expressed hope that humanitarian interactions between Iran and Serbia would further develop in the future.

Tasic, for his part, briefed Mousavi on the catastrophic situation in Serbia, and underlined that a large number of people have lost their homes and are in dire need of assistance.

Record rainfall has caused historic floods in Bosnia, Serbia and parts of Croatia, causing 47 deaths and forcing some 65,000 to abandon their homes. The worst affected areas are northern parts of Bosnia around the Sava River.

In Serbia, most victims drowned in Obrenovac, a Belgrade borough that has been hardest-hit since the start of the downpour last week. Serbia’s Interior Ministry has ordered a full evacuation of Obrenovac as Sava River is feared to recede.

Humanitarian aid, technical equipment and teams from Russia, the European Union, the United States and neighboring Montenegro and Macedonia are pouring in, authorities said.

In the Serbian capital Belgrade, dozens of schools and sport centers have turned into shelters for the thousands of evacuees plucked the disaster zones by boats, buses and helicopters.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said, “The biggest problem is still along the Sava River. An evacuation is under way in Sremska Raca. In other areas, it's getting better.”

"What happened to us happens once in a thousand years, not hundred but thousand years," he said.

By Press TV

 

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