ISTANBUL 

More than 13,000 people have been evacuated, and access to 49 villages has been cut off in Kazakhstan due to a spring flood prompted by melting of snow, a statement by the Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry said on Monday. 

The statement said: "With the forces and means involved, 13,659 people were rescued and evacuated, of which 5,250 were children. At the same time, 1,655 people were evacuated by state aviation aircraft, including 425 children."

The statement noted that 6,034 people, including 2,386 children, stay in provisional accommodation centers in Aktobe, West Kazakhstan, Akmola, Atyrau, Kostanay regions, adding that "10,684 farm animals were taken to safe places."

Referring to work by emergency personnel, it pointed out that "rescue operations involved 8,458 people, 2,124 equipment, 808 water pumping equipment and 65 watercraft, 14 aircraft from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, local executive bodies, and organizations."

Criticizing regional governors for lack of proper anti-flood activities, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said during a meeting of the republican headquarters for flood control activities that "the peak of the current flood has not passed yet, so it is necessary to make maximum use of all forces and means."

"The primary task is to prevent human casualties,” Tokayev was quoted as saying in a statement by the Kazakh presidency.