On Tuesday, August 8, a woman’s body was found in a riverbed in the Racha region (northern Georgia). The number of victims of a landslide in the mountain resort of Shovi has risen to 19, while 16 people are considered missing for the fifth day.
Most of the dead and missing are tourists, both from Georgia and abroad. There are children among the victims.
Ukrainian media reported that among the dead was a citizen of Ukraine Alina Polikovskaya. She was in Georgia with her husband and three children. Her body was found, the fate of the relatives of the deceased is being investigated.
Russian media report the death of Russian citizen Ksenia Tricheva, born in 1991. Her body was identified by one of her close friends.
Hundreds of civilian and military specialists are participating in the search operation.
According to the information of the government coordinating headquarters for combating the elements in Shovi, relatives of the missing have so far been able to identify only seven who died under the landslide.
More than 200 people were evacuated from the disaster zone by helicopters.
The landslide hit the Shovi resort on the evening of August 3, destroying many cottages along the river bank, in which vacationers lived. The building of the three-story hotel withstood, it saved the lives of many people.
The Georgian government declares that maximum efforts will be made to overcome the consequences of the natural disaster in Shovi. Experts say that the landslide could not have been predicted. However, many accuse local authorities of criminal inaction in the first hours after the landslide destroyed houses in Shovi.