19 Soviets Killed as Dam Break Unleashes Flood on Villagers

A mud slide triggered by torrential rains ripped through a dam in the Central Asian republic of Tadzhikistan on Monday and sent water crashing through a remote village, killing at least 19 people, the official Tass news agency reported.

Nine people were missing more than 12 hours after the disaster, and six people were injured, Tass said.

Tass said several days of heavy rains caused a mud slide that burst through the walls of the dam, sending the reservoir’s contents crashing through the village of Sargazan.

“Fifty-three houses, a livestock breeding farm and a poultry farm were swept away,” Tass said. “Bridges and a railroad section were destroyed, communication was disrupted. Part of the crops were washed away.”

Near Afghanistan

Ambulance aircraft and helicopters were brought into the Kulyab region about 60 miles southeast of the Tadzhikistan capital of Dushanbe and 25 miles north of the Afghanistan border.

“Special groups are searching for the missing,” Tass said. “Tents, food and pharmaceuticals are being shipped in.”

Tass said Communist Party officials went to the stricken area to supervise relief operations.

Tass added that several days of torrential rains have also created a “tense situation” in the Kurgan-Tyubinsky region of Tadzhikistan. It did not say if there had been flooding there.

Tadzhikistan, a mountainous republic on the Soviet Union’s borders with Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, has been the scene of intensive efforts to improve agriculture. It is one of the country’s chief cotton growing regions. Most of the republic’s nearly 5 million people are Muslim.

Better Reporting

Tass’ prompt and relatively detailed reporting of the dam disaster was clearly linked to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s campaign for glasnost, or openness. The campaign has permitted fuller and speedier news about some topics in the nation’s media, which for years were slow to report accidents and disasters.

The flood was reported on the main evening television news program, ensuring that a large part of the Soviet public would hear about it.

On Sunday, Soviet weather experts predicted record spring floods in the Ukraine following extraordinary snowfall this winter.