Death toll rises to 35 after dam burst in Kazakhstan

The death toll from heavy floods in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan climbed to 35, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Saturday, dpa reported.

A dam of a reservoir near the village Kysyl-Agasch broke Thursday due to heavy rains and melting snow, triggering a 2-meter-tidal wave that destroyed the village, local media reported.

Eyewitnesses spoke of an even higher number of victims in the village with a population of 3,000, located in the eastern Almaty region bordering China.

An official spokeswoman said that 70 per cent of the village had been destroyed.

Those in charge of the reservoir had not taken the necessary precautions for the spring floods and had to be punished, Nazarbayev charged, according to the state news agency Kazinform.

A government commission was set up to help the victims.