‘Frenzied, chaotic mess’: Fears grow over spread of disease after deadly Libya floods
The aid effort in the flood-ravaged city of Derna in east Libya has ramped up considerably in the past 48 hours. But while there are increased numbers of people on the ground helping, much of it still seems a frenzied, chaotic mess.
The humanitarian relief work might have stepped up a gear more than a week on from the massive disaster but now the aid teams are scrambling to prevent another disaster – that of the spread of disease.
We saw groups handing out masks and plastic gloves to people after warnings that the putrefying corpses still being recovered could spread disease. The water is thought to be heavily contaminated and large sections of the city centre have been left with no water or electricity.
The accelerated activity comes after days of mounting criticism about the relief operation being slow and uncoordinated. Now the gutted city is much busier with scores of teams on site and the main route into and out of the devastated centre is clogged with vehicles. Most we saw were Libyans – from all parts of the fractured country.
We spotted a group of young men from Benghazi, dressed in hazmat suits and wearing respirators.
“There’s no actual way to describe (what’s happened) and to talk about it,” one told us: “You are lost for words… it’s an absolute catastrophe.”
Many of the teams are still involved in trying to locate and retrieve the bodies of those who didn’t survive the violent flooding.
About 10,000 people are still unaccounted for.
Scene of devastation in Derna
Libyan National Army commandos were on a charm offensive with us, inviting us to film them pitching in with the aid fort.
Captain Hamza Adia told us how the troops – like their civilian brothers and sisters – had been deeply affected by the tragedy.
“We are here and helping retrieve the dead bodies.
“All of us are brothers – my guys are here and we’re ready to give everything – even if that costs us our lives.”
Many civilians have been heavily critical about what they say is the lack of any substantial effort on the part of the military to help out with the relief work.
The military strongman effectively in charge of the east, Khalifa Heftar and his sons, have been accused of trying to bolster their power here rather than distribute humanitarian aid.
Read more:
Before and after pictures show devastation of Libya floods
Huge aid package including body bags arrives in Libya
Libya’s recent history dating back to the 2011 NATO-backed military campaign to topple the long-time dictator Colonel Gaddafi, has meant the country has been fraught with problems ever since.
The ousting of Colonel Gaddafi led to a power vacuum which was filled by competing militia and resulted in rival authorities controlling the east and west as well as the outbreak of a bitter and violent civil war.
The instability allowed the Islamic State to take over territory including Derna in 2014. General Khalifa Heftar who was a soldier in Gaddafi’s military imposed a siege on the city to try to “starve” the IS militants into submission.
General Saddam Khalifa
He claimed the credit for eventually pushing them out although Derna residents remember events differently, insisting it was an anti-Heftar group of tribes who reclaimed their city for them. Heftar has maintained a focused eye on Derna ever since.
We spoke to his youngest son, General Saddam Khalifa, who is considered his father’s most likely successor and who we’ve spotted touring the devastated city over the past few days.
Almost every Libyan you speak to at the moment will tell you of the need for much more aid from outside the country to help them cope with this huge disaster. But if General Khalifa agrees with this sentiment, he’s reluctant to talk too much about it when Sky News spoke to him.
“Has the international response been adequate?” I ask him – but he’s clearly a very reluctant interviewee. His face is a picture of irritation with me.
“It’s fine for now,” he replies. “Yes, we need help but the rescue teams are doing their job.”
He is the man in charge of the Disaster Response Committee and responsible for the coordination of the relief effort as well as the international rescue crews.
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He is also likely to be in charge of any inquiry into how the city’s two dams both collapsed when Storm Daniel hit Libya.
The disintegration of the dams unleashed an avalanche of water which smashed through Derna like a powerful tsunami wrecking about an estimated quarter of the centre and killing thousands. The dams’ collapse is being blamed on poor maintenance over more than a decade.
Read more:
Libya flood damage revealed
Huge aid package arrives in Libya
Diggers searching through the rubble
But the younger Khalifa refused to countenance any suggestion there’d been neglect or wrongdoing – certainly at the top of the country’s eastern power base which, given the family’s stranglehold on all affairs here, would include himself, his father and his brothers.
I mention this criticism over the disaster and ask if the disaster could have been prevented. Many Derna residents say the lack of investment in the infrastructure – including not upgrading the two dams.
There had been multiple warnings that the dams urgently needed this. “What’s your view on that,” I ask.
He gives that question short shrift… “All is ok,’ he tells me.
“I have no criticism.” And with that, he indicates with a hand gesture that this brief interaction is over.
Alex Crawford was reporting from Derna in east Libya with cameraman Jake Britton and producer Chris Cunningham.
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland
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Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
Read more:
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
Analysis: We could all pay if Europe doesn’t guarantee Ukraine’s security
Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
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