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The situation in Derna, the Libyan port city where two dams burst over the weekend, has been described as “disastrous beyond comprehension”, as the Red Cross and local officials said at least 10,000 people were missing after the devastating floods.
The confirmed death toll has exceeded 5,300, Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesperson for the administration that controls the east of Libya told a state-run news agency late on Tuesday.Tariq al-Kharraz, another representative of the eastern government, said that entire neighbourhoods had been washed away, with many bodies swept out to sea.
Hundreds of bodies were piled up in cemeteries with few survivors able to identify them, according to Kharraz, who said he expected the death toll to rise above 10,000 people – a figure also quoted by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Deadly floods in Libya – in pictures
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Rami Elshaheibi, the Libyan national communications officer for the World Health Organization, said the situation in Derna was “disastrous beyond comprehension”.
Hichem Chkiouat, the minister of civil aviation, said many of the dead remained where the water left them: “Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” Chkiouat told Reuters by phone after a visit to the city. “I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.”
‘Disastrous beyond comprehension’: 10,000 missing after Libya floods
The confirmed death toll has exceeded 5,300, Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesperson for the administration that controls the east of Libya told a state-run news agency late on Tuesday.Tariq al-Kharraz, another representative of the eastern government, said that entire neighbourhoods had been washed away, with many bodies swept out to sea.
Hundreds of bodies were piled up in cemeteries with few survivors able to identify them, according to Kharraz, who said he expected the death toll to rise above 10,000 people – a figure also quoted by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Deadly floods in Libya – in pictures
Read more
Rami Elshaheibi, the Libyan national communications officer for the World Health Organization, said the situation in Derna was “disastrous beyond comprehension”.
Hichem Chkiouat, the minister of civil aviation, said many of the dead remained where the water left them: “Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” Chkiouat told Reuters by phone after a visit to the city. “I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.”
‘Disastrous beyond comprehension’: 10,000 missing after Libya floods
