June 5, 2002	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1423

DAMASCUS, June 4: A dam collapsed in central Syria on Tuesday, causing heavy casualties and widespread damage.

“Cracks appeared in the Zeyzoun dam...leading to a rush of water, then the collapse of the dam and a flood that inundated a large portion of the Alghab region, causing massive damage to a number of villages and their residents,” it said.

There was no immediate indication of how many people had been affected by the collapse of the dam.

Regional government officials said they had lost telephone contact with the area where the dam burst, and could only speculate at the amount of damage.

“All of the lines from there are down. We still don’t know how big it was, what the casualties might be,” said one official.—Reuters