The state has provided the population of the town of Svoge, Western Bulgaria, and nearby villages with 99 thousand litres of drinking water, said Head of Fire Safety and Civil Protection Chief Directorate Nikolay Nikolov.

A state of disaster has been declared on Monday after the sudden drying up of a karst spring tributary of the Iskretska River - the only water source in the region.

The drought has affected over 12 thousand people. The state is looking for options to divert water to the Iskretska River so that there is a lasting solution to the problem. In order to avoid an environmental disaster, 40 tons of fish from the fish ponds in the area will have to be disposed of.

"The river ends abruptly. It sinks into the ground to reemerge a few dozen kilometres down in the village of Iskrets. This is not the first time this has happened! In the late 1970s there was a similar incident. According to eyewitnesses, it took 48 to 72 hours for the river to flow back to normal," says Nikolov.