Libya: Over 5,000 feared dead, nearly 10,000 missing as floods wipe out quarter of Derna city

More than 5,000 people are feared dead and nearly 10,000are still missing in the flood-hit eastern Libyan city of Derna,said local hospital director and the Red Cross on Tuesday (September 12). Aminister from the administration that controls east Libyaalso said that a quarter of the city was wiped out by the floods after dams burst due to the storm which brought torrential rains in the region.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said that the death toll has exceeded 5,300 in the city of Derna alone from the flooding unleashed by Mediterranean Storm Daniel, reports AP news agency.

The head of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Libya said that around 10,000 people are thought to be missing after the major floods, and the death toll is likely to increase.

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Situation in Libya's Derna

The floods came after Storm Daniel swept through the Mediterranean over the weekend, bringing strong winds and heavy floods to several countries, including Libya, over the past two days.

A team which has reportedly been workingin Derna since Monday (Sep 11)said that more than 5,000 people remained missing while about 7,000 people were injured by the force of floodwaters that rushed down a normally dry river valley, reported AFP.

A report by Reuters citingMohamad al-Qabisi, director of the Wahda Hospital said1,700 people had died in one of the city's two districts and 500 had died in the other.

Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation and member of the emergency committee in the administration that controls the east, had earlier told the news agency, “I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.”

The statement was made after the official said that he had returned from the Derna, a coastal city of around 125,000 inhabitants and described the situation as “very disastrous”.

“Bodies are lying everywhere - in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” Abu Chkiouat told Reuters.

Addressing a press conference in Geneva via video link from Tunisia, Tamer Ramadan, the head of a delegation of the IFRC said, “We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 so far.”

Meanwhile,Libya’s Red Crescent spokesman Taqfiq Shukri, said as many as2,084 people are confirmed dead.

Damage and aid

A Reuters journalist on their way to Derna saw vehicles overturned on the edges of roads, trees knocked down and abandoned flooded houses.

Reports citing images and videos by residents in the flood-stricken areas also said that a wide torrent was seen running through Derna’s city centre after dams burst.

Libya has been politically split east and west with two rival administrations in charge and crumbling public services since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.

The head of the eastern Libyan government, Osama Hamad, is not internationally recognised and operates in the eastern regions of the country that are controlled by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA).

Meanwhile, theinternationally recognised Westerngovernment in Tripoli does notcontrol eastern areas and has dispatchedaid to Derna. Additionally, othercountries, including the United States and Turkeysaid that they would help.

Medical aid supplies sent bymunicipalities of Tripoli and Misrata, along with donations from businessmen, arrived in Al Abraq airport, on Tuesday (Sep 12), reported Reuters.

(With inputs from agencies)

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