5,000 Dead & 10,000 Missing in Libya
More than 5,000 people are presumed dead and 10,000 missing after heavy rains in Libya caused two dams to collapse, surging more water into already flooded areas.
More than 5,000 people are presumed dead and 10,000 missing after heavy rains in northeastern Libya caused two dams to collapse, surging more water into already flooded areas. In the eastern city of Derna, which has seen the worst of the devastation, as many as 6,000 people remain missing. Whole neighborhoods are believed to have been washed away in the city. Hospitals in Derna are no longer operable and the morgues are full. Dead bodies have been left outside the morgues on the sidewalks. There are harrowing stories of people being swept out to sea, while others clung onto rooftops to survive. There are no first-hand emergency services. People are working at the moment to collect the rotting bodies. There is no clean drinking water in Derna and a lack of medical supplies. Relatives of people who lived in the destroyed city of Derna said they were terrified after seeing videos of the flooding, with no word from their family members. Video footage recorded after dark on Sunday shows a river of floodwater churning through the city with cars bobbing helplessly in the current. Ayah, a Palestinian woman with cousins in Derna, said she has been unable to reach them since the floods. She said, “I’m really worried about them. I have two cousins who live in Derna. It seems all communications are down and I don’t know if they are alive at this point. It is very terrifying watching the videos coming out of Derna. We are all terrified,”
Some aid has started to arrive, including from Egypt, but rescue efforts have been hampered by the political situation in Libya, with the country split between two rival governments. The US, Germany, Iran, Italy, Qatar and Turkey are among the countries that have said they have sent or are ready to send aid.
