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Rescue teams are still searching the city of Derna, Libya, looking for victims of flash floods. Photo/Straits Times
DERNA – The city of Derna in Libya buried thousands of victims killed by flash floods that hit the city in mass graves. Rescue teams are still scouring the area for victims after it was swept away by devastating floods that killed at least 5,100 people.
Mediterranean Storm Daniel caused deadly flooding in many cities in eastern Libya, but the worst hit was Derna.
As the storm hit the Libyan coast on Sunday evening, residents of Derna said they heard loud explosions as a dam outside the town broke. Floodwaters swept through Wadi Derna, a valley that cuts through the city, collapsing buildings and washing people into the sea.
Local health authorities put the death toll in Derna at 5,100 on Wednesday.
“The number of fatalities is likely to increase because there are still 9,000 people missing,” said Ossama Ali, spokesman for the ambulance center in eastern Libya, as quoted by Al Arabiya, Thursday (14/9/2023).
According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, the flooding has displaced at least 30,000 people in Derna and forced several thousand others to flee their homes in other eastern cities.
“More than 3,000 bodies had been buried as of Thursday morning,” said East Libya’s Health Minister, Othman Abduljaleel, while another 2,000 bodies were still being processed.
He said most of the dead were buried in mass graves outside Derna, while others were moved to nearby towns.
He said rescue teams were still searching for victims in the rubble of buildings in the city center, and divers were combing the sea in Derna. The storm hit other areas in eastern Libya, including the cities of Bayda, Susa, Um Razaz and Marj, leaving around 170 people dead, the health minister said.