DAMASCUS, June 6 (AFP) - Twenty-two people died, another four are missing and 4,000 left homeless following the bursting of a dam in northern Syria earlier this week, according to the latest official figures, reported Thursday by Syrian television.
Hama province Governor Mohammed Said Akil, quoted by the TV, estimated there were 4,000 homeless but added the true number of casualties will be known when the flood waters subside.
He said a number of nomads were in the flooded Ghab region, 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of Damascus when the Zeyzoun dam burst on Tuesday afternoon.
The official daily Ath-Thawra estimated the number of homeless could reach 25,000, and said the Syrian company RIMA, which built the dam in 1995, could be held responsible for the "catastrophe".
The villages of Mshik, Karkur, Kastun, Zeyzoun and Ziyara, located near the dam, 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of Hama, were flooded.
The report said "8,000 hectares (19,768 acres) of cultivated land are submerged" and that wheat, barley and beet crops were swept away.
It showed pictures of destroyed houses and massive expanses of water and mud.
On Wednesday, Syria contacted the United Nations and requested urgent disaster relief from specialist international organizations.
A four-man UN catastrophe evaluation team from Geneva arrived in the affected region around noon on Thursday, an official in Hama said.
For its part, Iraq announced it was sending a plane-load of humanitarian assistance to Syria. The aid was expected to arrive Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Syrian search and rescue operations continued. The dam, with a capacity of 70 million cubic meters (2.472 billion cubic feet), burst soon after cracks appeared in the structure, though there was enough time for dam workers to evacuate the vicinity.
Local residents either fled or were evacuated to higher ground as the water engulfed fields 60 kilometres (37 miles) downstream from the dam on the Orontes river, while electricity, water and telephone lines were cut.
Built in 1995, the dam was 43 metres (141 feet) high and five kilometers (three miles) long.
rm/srj/al AFP
Copyright (c) 2002 Agence France-Presse
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 06/06/2002 15:52:16