Daniel in Libya: more than 1,500 bodies of the dead were found in Derna due to flooding

The death toll in the Libyan port city of Derna may exceed 5,300 people; fifteen hundred dead have already been identified.

Tragic data was provided from the disaster zone by a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the eastern regions of Libya controlled by Benghazi. Under the onslaught of heavy rains caused by Cyclone Daniel, two dams broke, and water poured into the city with a population of more than one hundred thousand.

Entire residential areas were washed away by the raging water stream, and many residents were swept out to sea. Bridges are destroyed, roads are flooded, and rescuers are not always able to reach disaster-stricken areas. Residents of the city are trying to independently extract the dead from the mud and water. The Minister of Civil Aviation of the Eastern Administration describes the situation:

“The dead are everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under buildings.”

Here’s what residents of the affected city say:

“Unfortunately, half of our people drowned, and maybe 90%. My aunt’s house went under water, my other aunt’s also died, my cousin’s did the same. This is genocide. We are burying people en masse. To the hospital in the neighboring bodies poured out in the Shikha area, yesterday there were about a thousand of them, among the dead were women, children, men, and old people.”

Number of missing people reportedly Red Cross, reached 10,000 people. More than 40,000 local residents fled their homes. Only on Tuesday the first humanitarian aid began to arrive. The government in Tripoli sent convoys of humanitarian aid, teams of doctors, rescuers and dog handlers to the east. Search and rescue teams arrived from Egypt, Turkey, and the UAE. France is setting up a field hospital.

The search operation is significantly complicated by the political situation in Libya, which is divided between two warring governments. Due to years of conflict, civilian infrastructure, including dams, cannot be properly maintained.

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