Flood in Poland. Krzysztof Bosak: there is no victim from Głuchołazy in the police statistics. That's not true

Even though the police provide data on the number of flood victims, misinformation continues to spread that the government is hiding real statistics. Chief Police Commander Insp. Marek Boroń publicly informed about seven victims in September, and on September 28 he said during the government meetingthat number has increased to nine. He added that one person is still wanted.

Despite this, on September 29, the deputy speaker of the Sejm and leader of the Confederation, Krzysztof Bosak, in “Rymanowski's Breakfast” on Polsat News, repeated his earlier claims that the government was hiding true data on flood victims and the number of missing people. In the television studio, he cited a specific case as “evidence”: a woman living in Głuchołazy. “Onet reported ten days ago from Głuchołazy, where the son of his mother, Mrs. Irena, 65, who was carried away by the flood, states that her mother drowned and was carried away by the river. (…) The police commander confirmed this. Mrs. Irena from Głuchołazy is not included in the police list. So the question is: where has Mrs. Irena gone? Where are the many other people the local government officials talked about? At one point, local government officials were told to shut their mouths and they did. (…) Why have the police been investigating Ms. Irena's case for ten days? – said Krzysztof Bosak.

We checked the case of the resident of Głuchołazy mentioned by him.

The dramatic situation in Głuchołazy in the Opole Voivodeship it happened on September 15 in the morning. First, the water broke the embankments on the Biała Głuchołaska River, and soon afterwards it took away the temporary bridge and destroyed the neighboring one that was under construction. She entered the city, which was almost completely flooded. Paweł Kolera, press officer of the State Fire Service Headquarters in Opole, described in an interview with TVN24 that the situation was very difficult and informed about the evacuation of residents: – A helicopter at the disposal of the police, together with high-altitude rescuers, was dispatched to the site, which will evacuate people most in need. from places where we are unable to reach by vehicle – he said. The Ministry of Infrastructure then released a photo of the destroyed bridge. “The bridge in Głuchołazy was broken under the pressure of water. The structure of the adjacent bridge under construction on DK40 (National Road No. 40 – ed.) was also damaged,” the release said.

It can be assumed that Krzysztof Bosak is referring to the heroine of the text entitled “The wanted lady Irena from Głuchołazy has died. 'We recognized her by her rings'”, which was published in Onet September 18. The article mentions the woman's name and briefly describes the 65-year-old's story. She was never heard from while she was waiting to be evacuated from her home in Głuchołazy. The article reads a statement by the woman's son confirming his mother's death. Later, it was also quoted on the daily's website “Super Express“. He provided official information from the police: “A woman's body was found on the bank of Biała Głuchołaska near the village of Nowy Świętów” – it was noted that the identification of the body would only take place.

A few hours earlier o2 portal he quoted one of the senior's family members who said: “The cause of death was drowning, the water carried her away.” Earlier, when the family was looking for the woman, her daughter described on Facebook that her mother was preparing to evacuate. She informed her family by phone that she was leaving the house, and then the contact stopped. The daughter posted an obituary on Facebook, which shows that her mother's funeral was in Głuchołazy on October 1. The day of death was listed as September 17.

September 26, police she described on the X platform each case separately. It was written: “so far, 7 deaths have been revealed of people whose circumstances of death may indicate that their cause was drowning. Each of these deaths is a family tragedy” and the places where flood victims were found were specified:

– Bielsko-Biała (body of a man in the stream bed); – Nysa (body of a man in the water near one of the city streets); – Nowe Świętowo (body of a woman in the river); – Kłodzko (a man's body in the water of a flooded single-family house); – Lądek-Zdrój (body of a woman in an apartment destroyed by water and the body of a man – a German citizen – in a car); – Stronie Śląskie (man's body in the riverbed).

There are two women on this list – one was found in the Głuchołaski poviat (Lądek-Zdrój is in the Kłodzko poviat). We asked the police in Opole and the headquarters whether the victim mentioned in this list – a woman found in Nowy Świętowie – was a resident of Głuchołazy described by the media. However, the police refused to provide details and referred us to the prosecutor's office in Opole.

On October 2, we received a response from prosecutor Stanisław Bar, spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Opole. He informs: “The District Prosecutor's Office in Prudnik is supervising the investigation (initiated on September 20 this year) into the unintentional manslaughter of a woman whose body was discovered on September 17 this year in the town of Nowy Świętów (this is the actual name of the town, the police post states incorrect – ed.) near the Biała Głuchołaska River. At the moment, the cause of death remains undetermined – the results of the autopsy are awaited (a written opinion from a forensic medicine expert). conclude that the most probable cause of the woman's death was drowning. As a result of the activities undertaken, the identity of the deceased was established (resident of Głuchołazy)” (bold from the editor).

Thus, the prosecutor's office confirmed that the victim mentioned in the police data was the woman reported by the media. Krzysztof Bosak was not telling the truth when he claimed that v The police list does not include a resident of Głuchołazy.