“An explosion” was detected at the site and time a dam was breached in Ukraine that caused major flooding, Norway’s seismological institute said on Friday (June 9).
News agency AFP reported that the announcement by the NORSAR (or Norwegian Seismic Array) did not provide any information about the cause of the blast.
It supports suggestions that the hydroelectric dam did not burst as a result of damage incurred during months of heavy bombing.
Earlier this week, the hydroelectric dam was ripped open after a reported blast and in the aftermath. In the aftermath, both Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the attack.
The alleged attack caused tensions as the Kakhovka dam sits on the Dnipro River, which feeds a reservoir providing cooling water for the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.
Thousands of civilians were forced to flee the flooded areas while raising fears of an ecological disaster after the destruction of the dam caused torrents of water to pour into the Dnipro.
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Ben Dando, who is a senior Norsar official, told AFP: “We are confident that there was an explosion.”
According to the institute, the blast occurred at 2:54am (local time), at a site whose coordinates correspond to the Kakhovka dam.
The magnitude of the blast was “between 1 and 2”, said Norsar, which had yet to calculate its equivalent in tonnes of TNT.
Dando said, “It’s not a weak explosion.” It was detected at the Bukovina station in Romania, some 620 kilometres from the location of the blast.
Rescue work underway
Thousands of civilians were forced to flee the flooded areas while raising fears of an ecological disaster after the destruction of the dam caused torrents of water to pour into the Dnipro.
Ukrainian officials said that more people were evacuated on Friday from southern areas where at least five people had been killed in the flooding.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said four people had died and 13 people were missing in the Kherson region, and that one person had died in the Mykolayiv region. According to the Kherson’s military administration, 2,528 people, including 140 children had been evacuated from flooded areas.
A Russian-appointed official said eight people had died in Russian-held territory and more than 5,800 had been evacuated from their homes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the authorities were working round the clock to save people. Zelensky said, “The evacuation continues. Wherever we can get people out of the flood zone, we are doing it.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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