Lake created by landslide floods in Bosnia, closes highway

SARAJEVO, Bosnia — Flooding from a new lake created by a landslide in central Bosnia has shut down one of the country’s main highways.

Earlier this week, a major landslide from huge piles of mine waste from an open pit coal mine had blocked a river near the central town of Kakanj, creating the lake.

The lake then overflowed Saturday morning following heavy rain overnight. That forced the closure of a busy highway connecting the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo with the central town of Zenica.

Fahrudin Solak, a Civil Protection official, said emergency crews have redirected drivers to alternative roads and were struggling to defuse the lake’s flooding threat by channeling water into drainage ducts.