Five people have been found dead and others are missing after taking part in a guided tour of Moscow’s sewers in torrential rain on Sunday, local media reported on Monday.
According to state news agencies, the water level rose rapidly and the victims were unable to return to the surface. Some bodies were found in the Moskova River, according to the official TASS news agency. Others were still missing.
Numerous guided tours are offered through the capital’s vast sewers, some of whose tunnels were built in the 19th century.
An urban explorer told the state agency RIA Novosti that he had found no one in the places where participants might have taken shelter. “I was hoping that maybe we could still find survivors there. There are two shelters, but there was no one,” Daniïl Davydov was quoted as saying by the agency.
The tour's organiser is now being investigated for “providing services in disregard of safety rules,” according to local media.
