Emergency workers clear landslide debris in Montenegro canyon

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2006

PODGORICA (AFP) — Emergency workers managed to partially clear a massive rock landslide blocking a UNESCO-protected river canyon in Montenegro, lowering the danger of severe flooding in the area, officials said. The landslide earlier swept several dozen cubic metres (feet) of soil, rocks and trees down into the Tara River Canyon, the world's second deepest canyon after Grand Canyon in the United States, damming up the river.

River waters have so far been built up behind the huge rock barrier, which is some 40 metres (130 feet) high and 150 metres wide, threatening to flood several villages scattered on the steep slopes of the breathtaking canyon in northern Montenegro. The Tara River Canyon, which is a UNESCO protected World Heritage site, is 78 kilometres (48 miles) long...