Seven children were among the 49 people who drowned in Russia on Saturday as a heatwave gripped large parts of the country , the Ministry of Emergency Situations announced today, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"A total of 65 incidents were registered in the country in the last 24 hours, 49 people died," the ministry announced in the Telegram messaging application.
This is 10 more incidents than the number of drownings on the same day a year ago, notes the RIA Novosti agency.
Over the past week, Russians have had to endure some of the hottest weather seen in more than a century, with Moscow breaking the record set in 1917 and a number of cities in the world's largest country suffering temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius.
The Russian Hydrometeorological Service said on Friday that the southern and European parts of Russia are expected to experience unusually hot weather over the weekend, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in some places.
In the Nizhny Novgorod region of central Russia, a 10-year-old girl drowned in the Volga River, and her six-year-old sister is missing, divers are still searching for her. In Bashkiria, which lies between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains, three people drowned, including a 16-year-old girl, the ministry announced.