Dozens die in Balkans worst flooding

(Vatican Radio) - An appeal by Pope Francis to pray for the victims of floods in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia comes amid reports that as many as 40 people have died in the region over the last three days. Rescue workers have been struggling to evacuate thousands of people from flooded areas. 

Listen to correspondent Stefan Bos' report... 

Helicopters fully loaded with mothers tightly holding their babies and other desperate people fly across Serbia and neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina in a massive effort to rescue residents.

But the airlift has come to late for at dozens of people. They drowned, mainly in Serbia, in what authorities have called the region's worst rainfall and flooding, since records began 120 years ago. 

And some have reportedly watched in disbelief as an aircraft left family members behind on a roof sticking out of a sea of water in Bosnia Herzegovina. There was no more place in the helicopter.  

BRIDGES COLLIDE

Rescue workers also try to reach flooded areas in boats, but it isn't easy. 

A bridge span ripped off by the Bosna River is swept downstream and destroys another bridge near the town of Zavidovici in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina.   

And the Bosnian Mine Action Center has warned that floods and as many as 300 landslides have moved at least some of the many minefields that contaminate Bosnia-Herzegovina since the 1992-1995 
war.

A lack of often adequate infrastructure is believed to have added to the high death toll in the Balkans. 

THOUSANDS SAVED

Despite the difficulties, tens of thousands of people could be evacuated, including in Serbia's capital Belgrade, where more than 15-thousand people were forced to find shelter in schools 
and sports halls.
 
However with more flooding expected, rescue workers in Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina face more difficulties. 

The European Union is preparing to help, after requests for more water pumps, expert teams and helicopters

Heavy rainfall has also caused havoc in other countries in the region such as Croatia, Hungary, Poland and even Austria.