Libya floods: Rescuers retrieve hundreds of bodies as 10,000 reported missing

Rescue teams struggled amid devastation in eastern Libya retrieving hundreds of bodies from the rubble in a coastal city that has been inundated by devastating floods a humanitarian agency said Tuesday Authorities estimated that as many as 2000 people are believed dead in the city of Derna aloneMediterranean storm Daniel caused havoc and flash flooding in many towns in eastern Libya but the worst destruction was in Derna where heavy rainfall and floods broke dams and washed away entire neighbourhoods authorities saidTamer Ramadan Libya envoy for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said 10000 people were missing after the unprecedented flooding Speaking to reporters at UN briefing in Geneva via videoconference from Tunisia he said the death toll was huge and expected to reach into the thousands in the coming daysSpeaking about the fallout from Fridays devastating earthquake in Morocco on the other side of North Africa Ramadan said the situation in Libya was as devastating as the situation in MoroccoOssama Hamad prime minister of the government in eastern Libya said that many of the missing were believed to have been carried away after two upstream dams burst He said the devastation in Derna is far beyond the capabilities of his countryAfter more than a decade of chaos Libya remains divided between two rival administrations one in the east and one in the west each backed by different militias and foreign governments The conflict has left the oil rich North African country with crumbling and inadequate infrastructureThe Libyan Red Crescent said early Tuesday that its teams counted more than 300 people dead in Derna which authorities have declared a disaster zoneMore bodies were still under the rubble in the citys neighbourhoods or washed away to the sea according to eastern Libyas health minister Othman AbduljaleelDerna residents posted videos online showing major devastation Entire residential blocks were erased along Wadi Derna a river that runs down from the mountains through the city centre Multistory apartment buildings that once stood well back from the river were partially collapsed into mudAbduljaleel said the city was inaccessible and bodies were scattered all over according to Libyas staterun news agency He said there wasnt an exact death toll as of Monday night in Derna but that the tally is expected to exceed 2000 as search teams combed through the rubbleThe situation was more significant and worse than we expected An international intervention is needed he was quoted as sayingEmergency responders including troops government workers volunteers and residents were digging through rubble to recover the dead They also used inflatable boats to retrieve bodies from the water Excavators and other equipment have yet to arrive in DernaMany residents described scenes of chaos when floods hit the centre They heard loud explosions at night and realised that dams outside the city collapsed sending a wall of water that erased everything in its way said Ahmed Abdalla a Derna residentWorkers said they buried more than 200 bodies in one cemetery on Monday Footage overnight showed dozens more bodies on the ground covered by blankets or sheets in a hospital yard in DernaThe storm hit other areas in eastern Libya including the town of Bayda where about 50 people were reported dead The Medical Centre of Bayda the main hospital was flooded and patients had to be evacuated according to footage shared by the centre on FacebookOther towns that suffered included Susa Marj and Shahatt according to the government Hundreds of families were displaced and took shelter in schools and other government buildings in the city of Benghazi and elsewhere in eastern LibyaNortheast Libya is one of the countrys most fertile and green regions The Jabal alAkhdar area where Bayda Marj and Shahatt are located has one of the countrys highest average annual rainfalls according to the World BankAuthorities in eastern and western Libya rushed to help Derna residents The Health Ministry in Tripoli said a plane carrying 14 tons of medical equipment drugs and body bags along with health care workers headed Tuesday to Benghazi Other agencies across the country said they would send humanitarian aid to DernaForeign governments also sent messages of support to LibyaEgypt Tunisia Algeria Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates were among those that said they would send humanitarian assistance and teams to help with search and rescue efforts The US Embassy said Monday it was contacting the United Nations and Libyan authorities on how to deliver aid to the most affected areasEgyptian President Abdel Fattah elSissi convened his military commanders on Tuesday to arrange urgent assistance to Libya He said in televised comments that the military would deploy equipment and personnel in coordination with eastern Libyan forces to help affected communitiesKnown for its whitepainted houses and palm gardens Derna is about 900 kilometres east of the capital of Tripoli It is controlled by the forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter who is allied with the east Libya government The rival government in west Libya based in Tripoli is allied with other armed groupsMuch of Derna was built by Italy when Libya was under Italian occupation in the first half of the 20th century The city was once a hub for extremist groups in the yearslong chaos that followed the NATObacked uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever