Eleven people from the same family, including five children, drowned in the Syr Darya River in the Turkestan region in southern Kazakhstan on August 21, officials said, adding the search for two other missing children continues. The bodies of nine victims have been recovered from the water so far, emergency workers said. The accident occurred near a road bridge in the Otyrar district, where the families of four brothers had met to go swimming. In July, Kazakh officials reported that 59 people had drowned in the country since the start of the swimming season, 19 of whom were children. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, click here.
