Tourists drown in Moscow sewers tour during Russian flash floods

Four people have died on a Moscow tour and more are missing after heavy rain flooded the city sewer network. Photo / Rob Lee, CC

At least four have drowned on a guided tour of the Moscow city sewerage system, according to local media. The 19th-century tunnels under the city are a public attraction in the Russian capital.

Heavy rain last weekend led to the tour party becoming trapped after flash flooding on the Moskva.

The state news agency Tass reported the bodies of four people had been recovered and several others were still missing.

On Monday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called it a “terrible tragedy”, though the number of victims has not been given. The mayor said the search continued for missing people, and an investigation was underway into how this could have happened.

Two bodies, including that of a teenage girl, were reportedly found over Sunday night in the Moskva River in the central city, near the Zaryadye park.

The tourists had been prevented from reaching the surface by flooded tunnels, according to rescue workers quoted by Tass.

Reuters quoted another local news agency that claimed as many as eight tourists may have been involved.

Tour guides and “urban explorers” had been involved in the rescue operation, saying there were areas where tourists could still be safe.

“I hoped that maybe I would still be able to find some survivors there. There are two shelter points, but there was no one there,” urban explorer Daniil Davydov told the RIA news agency.

The agency also reported as many as 12 guests cancelled at the last minute after seeing the forecast for rain.

So far the known victims have been identified as a man and his 15-year-old daughter and 17-year-old nephew who had been on the tour. Tributes continue on Russian social media.

The city’s historic sewers, which date back to the 1800s, are the site of several tour operations leading tours into Moscow’s underground history.

Charging between $70 and $200, tours take visitors to visit underground waterfalls and the historic Moscow dungeons, but most advise that trips will be postponed or cancelled in case of rain.