At least 19 people, most of them feared to be children, died in floods in eastern Slovakia and dozens are still missing, the interior ministry said yesterday.
Heavy rain caused several small rivers to overflow sending waves of muddy water rushing through at least 20 villages and gypsy encampments.
"The latest estimate says there were 19 people killed with more missing," the Interior Ministry Spokesman, Mr Jan Bazovsky, said. The official news agency, TASR, reported that 16 of the dead were from the mainly gypsy village of Jarovnice which is in the east of the country about 25 km from the Polish border.
TASR reported the village's mayor as saying most of the victims were gypsy children and that around 60 people from Jarovnice alone were still missing.
The centre of Jarovnice was devastated as the Mala Svinka river tore down houses, uprooted trees and overturned cars.
Throughout yesterday, rescue workers struggled through thick mud to dig out the bodies of the dead and get to the ruins of houses.
The interior ministry earlier said it was impossible to give complete overall figures for the dead and missing because some villages were accessible only by air.
"We have no precise information on how many children were killed but we are afraid that most of the victims were children," the ministry said.
Slovak Television reported that the death toll had risen to 21 but there has been no official confirmation of the higher figure.
The interior ministry said that 200 members of the fire service, 94 policemen, 77 army rescue personnel and a further 80 soldiers had been called in to help with the rescue operation.