Libya floods: death toll expected to be ‘huge’, thousands missing after powerful storm
- Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighbourhoods
- The destruction appeared greatest in Derna, a city where 2,000 were feared dead in and thousands were believed missing
02:13
Thousands are feared dead following catastrophic floods in Libya
Around a quarter of Libya’s eastern city of Derna was wiped out by floods after dams burst in a storm, and more than 1,000 bodies have been recovered so far, a minister in the administration that controls the east said on Tuesday.
“I returned from Derna. It is very disastrous. Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” Hichem Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation and member of the emergency committee, told Reuters by phone.
“The number of bodies recovered in Derna is more 1,000,” he said. He expected the final toll would be “really, really big”.
“I am not exaggerating when I say that 25 per cent of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.”
Chkiouat later told Al Jazeera that he expected the total number of dead across the country to reach more than 2,500, as the number of missing people was rising.
Other eastern cities including Libya’s second biggest city of Benghazi, have also been hit by storm Daniel as it swept onto the country after hitting Greece.
Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) also said that the number of victims could reach thousands.
