12 March, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. A six-year-old girl has drowned in Lepel district, the Vitebsk regional organization of the Belarusian Republican Society for Rescue of People on Water (OSVOD) informed a BELTA correspondent. The tragedy occurred on the evening of 6 March in the settlement of Mezhytsa. The mother picked up the girl from kindergarten and allowed her to play outside with a friend, leaving her unsupervised. The children went to the Ulla River, located 100 m from the houses, and after some time, cries for help were heard. One of the girls fell into a hole in the ice, 20 m by 30 m, and was pulled under the ice. Search operations for the missing girl have been underway by diving service specialists for seven days. However, they are complicated by deeply frozen ice and strong underwater currents. In connection with the upcoming spring holidays, OSVOD staff urge adults not to leave children unsupervised near water bodies, and also warn about the approaching danger of ice fishing and crossing rivers and lakes. Unstable weather will persist in the Vitebsk region over the next few days. The air temperature at night will drop to minus 2, in some places to minus 10 degrees Celsius, and during the day it will be around zero. Truly spring weather with positive temperatures is expected in the region on the weekend. The opening of rivers and lakes is forecast for the end of March - beginning of April, as noted by "Vitebskoblgidromet".-0-

BELTA