Trapped Russian students rescued from flooded building in New Orleans, Foreign Ministry

Seventeen Russian university students who had been stranded on a rooftop in hurricane-flooded New Orleans have been rescued, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The students were among countless people who became trapped as floodwaters poured into the below-sea-level city on Tuesday in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. No details of the rescue operation were immediately available.

Media reports on Wednesday had said the number of stranded Russian students was about 30, and it was not immediately clear if others remained stranded, reports the AP.