3-year-old girl killed in flooding in Russian Far East

A 3-year-old girl was killed when she fell into a drainage ditch during flooding in Russia's Far East region of Primorye, officials said Monday.

Close to 1,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the region, and numerous roads have been washed away.

Sergei Zorin, an emergency response official in the Krasnoarmeysky district of Primorye, said that 3-year-old Dasha Shchukina was playing with a friend in the village of Melnichnoye on Saturday when she fell into the ditch. Adults pulled her out after her friend screamed for help, but emergency officials could not find a helicopter to transport her to a hospital. She died before dawn on Sunday, having only once briefly regained consciousness.