‘Devastating miracle’: Boy, 11, survives Libyan floods after whole family dies
The story of 11-year-old Yousif can only be described as a devastating miracle.
While the floodwaters here in Derna swept his entire family out to sea, the waves washed him back along the shore.
His legs are covered in scratches and there’s a bandage wrapped around his right foot.
“The water lifted us up and smashed us onto the ground,” he says.
“I woke up on the floor and then got up and walked. Later, a police car took us to a school.”
I ask what feelings he has.
“Nothing,” he replies curtly.
His uncle, Mustafa Farash, is now his guardian and says he is in a state of shock. He tells me they lost 11 family members and found only five bodies to bury.
As a civil engineer born in Derna, he is furious about this preventable tragedy. The burst second dam was built in 1973 and he says there’s been no maintenance of note in the 50 years since.
“These dams should have been maintained yearly and even have a watch post,” he says.
“Everyone here – men, women and children – know that this was caused by neglect and corruption.”
Yousif, 11, says the water lifted him up and smashed him on the ground
Derna’s disaster zone is now full of troops commanding search and recovery efforts, directing diggers and volunteers.
Sometimes they are working efficiently; at other times, counterintuitively.
This massive military presence was not the case on the first day.
When dawn broke and thousands of bodies washed up on the city’s shore, it was a flood preparation committee that launched into action.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What happened at Derna’s ‘dam of death’?
A joint venture from the Libyan Red Crescent, the police, the army’s 166th battalion, medics and Derna’s Scouts – supported by a mass of civilian volunteers.
They had seen Storm Daniel tear through Europe and were on high alert for when it crossed the Mediterranean sea.
The head of the Derna Scouts emergency team, Zuhair Azouz, says the committee had been prepared for a flood from the sea but, instead, it ended up crashing down from the dam behind.
“Around 1,500 bodies washed up to shore on the first morning,” he says. “We all rushed to the beach – it was almost a blur.”
We are standing on the balcony of the Derna Scout headquarters looking out at the beach. The water along the shore is still a muddy brown from all the silt that came from the highlands. That day the water was much darker, Zuhair says.
Derna has been devastated
This city has seen a lot, but nothing like this.
Back when ISIS extremists over-ran Derna and carried out executions in the mosque yards, the scouts had been on the frontline.
A plaque still hangs in the building’s reception, honouring them for helping to liberate the city.
As Zuhair sits in his meeting room, head scouts come to see him. Some of them are on autopilot and others in a highly emotional state.
Head girl scout Eman runs in to hug him. She had been told he was one of the thousands swept away to sea.
Her relief turns into agony as she starts to wail and then begins to list all the people she knows that were killed.
“This is a massive catastrophe,” Zuhair says. “I have 54 scout leaders that have lost their friends, families and loved ones, so they are distraught.”
He adds that 90 girl and boy scouts have died.
Read more:
Libya flood damage revealed
Huge aid package arrives in Libya
I ask Zuhair what their immediate needs are. The building has a make-shift surgical ward with a white sheet cordoning off a small storage area. There are boxes with aid and supplies – some marked with labels from Palestine and Turkey. The room is barely 20 square metres.
Before he rattles off a list of medical supplies, Zuhair says they urgently need children’s toys and a playground for psychosocial support.
Just across the street, at a battered courtyard in the shadow of Derna’s mountains, the scouts have organised a playtime for children who have lost their families. In the absence of toys they are using balloons, cheering and clapping to get them excited.
On the edge of the new playground, a small child sits with his head in his hands. A volunteer is hunched over talking to him quietly. Every now and then the boy shakes his head. Despite the screams of glee all around him, he never even looks up.
Countless children here are now orphaned.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
IDF reservists call for end to war in Gaza
Read more:
Israeli pilots’ letter reveals deepening rift
Seriously ill children from Gaza allowed into UK
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway