Libya flooding: 10,000 people thought to be missing after dams burst
About 10,000 people are thought to be missing after major flooding in Libya, with thousands feared dead.
A quarter of the eastern city of Derna was wiped out by floodwaters after dams burst in Storm Daniel, the local administration said, with more than 1,000 bodies recovered so far.
It is estimated as many as 2,000 people may have died in Derna alone, and the floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to city, slowing down aide.
More than 1,000 corpses have been collected – with footage showing dozens of bodies covered by blankets in the yard of one hospital.
Another image showed a mass grave piled with bodies.
At least 700 buried so far, according to the health minister for eastern Libya.
Pic: AP
Disaster zone
Derna has been declared a disaster zone.
Tamer Ramadan, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) in Libya, said: “We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 so far.
“The death toll is huge and might reach thousands.”
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Thousands feared dead in Libya floods
He added that conditions in Libya were “as devastating as the situation in Morocco“, which has been recently hit by a powerful earthquake.
The Red Cross secretary general and chief executive, Jagan Chapagain, said on Tuesday three volunteers from its Libya chapter had died while trying to help families impacted by flooding.
Outside help was only just starting to reach Derna on Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the disaster struck.
‘Bodies lying everywhere’
Streets are flooded after being hit by storm Daniel in Marj, in northeastern Libya
Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the eastern administration, said: “I returned from Derna. It is very disastrous.
“Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings.”
He added: “The number of bodies recovered in Derna is more than 1,000. I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.”
Entire residential blocks were erased along Wadi Derna, a river that runs down from the mountains through the city centre.
Even multi-storey apartment buildings that stood well back from the river partially collapsed into the mud.
Othman Abduljaleel, eastern Libya’s health minister, said Derna was inaccessible and bodies were scattered across it, Libya’s state-run news agency reported.
“The situation was more significant and worse than we expected… An international intervention is needed,” he was quoted as saying.
Extent of disaster just beginning to dawn
It has taken time but it’s now quickly becoming clear to the outside world that Libya is facing a significant humanitarian catastrophe.
Storm Daniel has already caused chaos in southern Europe but the flooding in the east of the country may be even worse.
The disaster has been compounded by the problems Libya is already facing – years of war since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted have left the fractured nation in no place to deal with this terrible climatic event.
We don’t really know the numbers of dead – it’s definitely in the thousands but that tragic figure could rise much higher.
Aid agencies are pointing to the collapse of two dams in the coastal city of Derna as the reason for the worst of the devastation.
At least 10,000 people are missing according to the Red Crescent.
Reaching the areas worst affected is not easy – the swollen rivers and intense flash flooding have swept away roads and homes.
There are reports entire communities have been washed away into the sea.
Any relief effort will be also complicated by the political divisions that exist.
An internationally recognised government sits in the capital Tripoli but the east is administered – where Derna is located – by a different authority.
There are signs of aid moving from the capital eastwards, but for people in the flooded areas it cannot come quick enough.
It may be days before we know the true extent of this disaster and they get the help they need.
‘Never felt as frightened’
At Tripoli airport in northwest Libya, one woman broke down in tears as she found out most of her family were dead or missing.
Her brother-in-law, Walid Abdulati, said “we are not speaking about one or two people dead, but up to 10 members of each family dead”.
Karim al-Obaidi, a passenger on a plane from Tripoli to the east, said he has “never felt as frightened” and that he has lost contact with family.
People were searching for bodies and men in a rubber boat retrieved one from the sea, footage broadcast by Libyan TV station al-Masar showed.
A collapsed seaside road after heavy flooding in Derna. Pic: Libyan government via AP
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“We have nothing to save people… no machines… we are asking for urgent help,” said Khalifah Touil, an ambulance worker.
Derna, on Libya’s eastern Mediterranean coast, is bisected by a seasonal river that flows from highlands to the south, and it is normally protected from flooding by dams.
Derna is about 560 miles east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and is controlled by the forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter, who is allied with the east Libya government.
West Libya, including Tripoli, is controlled by armed groups connected to another administration.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
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Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
World
Israeli tank shelling kills 51 people waiting for aid in Khan Younis, Hamas-run health ministry says
Israeli tank shellfire has killed at least 51 Palestinians in Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Hundreds of others have been injured, with “dozens of critical cases” arriving at a medical complex.
It is feared that the number of fatalities will rise.
Pic: Reuters
The strikes took place as people waited for United Nations and commercial aid trucks in the southern Gaza city.
Witnesses said that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd.
“Emergency, intensive care, and operating rooms are experiencing severe overcrowding,” a statement said.
Officials say medical staff “are operating with limited supplies of life-saving medicines” – with the ministry renewing an “urgent appeal” to increase aid.
Pic: Reuters
Hours earlier, Donald Trump had joined other G7 leaders to call for a “de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza”.
The Israeli military is yet to comment on this incident.
On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 34 people were shot dead near food distribution centres.
This was the highest reported daily total since Israel and US-backed aid centres opened last month, with thousands of Palestinians moving through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach them.
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