TASHKENT, July 13 (Reuters) - Ninety-three people have been killed in heavy flooding in Uzbekistan but the real death toll could be much higher, officials said on Monday.
"Ninety-three corpses have been delivered to morgues," said an officer from the Uzbek Defence Ministry's rescue detachment. "The actual death toll may be larger," he added.
Health Ministry officials confirmed the figure.
"Some of those who survived the flood might have died after being brought to hospitals," one health official said.
Earlier government estimates had put the death toll in last Wednesday's flood in the former Soviet republic's Fergana Valley at 75. Around 14,000 people have been evacuated.
Officials say thawing ice and snow in a mountainous area of neighbouring Kyrgyzstan caused the Shakhimardan River to overflow its banks and surge down into Uzbekistan's vast Fergana Valley.
Torrents of mud and water bearing huge boulders smashed into wooden and clay huts and other dwellings.
The river's water levels rose three to four metres (yards) above normal. Reporters saw houses and bridges in ruins and many roads were badly damaged.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov visited the area on Sunday, government officials said.
The Central Asian mission of the International Red Cross Federation based in Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty reported widespread destruction and suffering in the disaster area.
"Four hundred people from 53 families lost absolutely everything. The men do not even have shoes," it said in a statement, quoting one of its workers in the area. "Another 100 people were made homeless and another 5,000 had their homes damaged on the Kyrgyzstan side of the border."
Only one person, a young girl, is reported to have died on the Kyrgyz side.