10,000 people feared missing as floods devastate Libya

At least 10,000 people were feared missing in Libya on Tuesday in floods caused by a huge storm that burst dams.

The disaster caused by Storm Daniel which barrelled across the Mediterranean wiped out as much as a quarter of the eastern Libyan city of Derna.

More than 1,000 bodies have already been recovered in Derna alone and officials expected the death toll would be much higher.

“Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the administration that controls the east, told Reuters.

“The number of bodies recovered in Derna is more 1,000,” he said. “I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.”

Abu Chkiouat later said he expected the total number of dead across the country to reach more than 2,500, as the number of missing people was rising.

Libya’s second biggest city Benghazi was also affected. Tamer Ramadan, head of a delegation of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the death toll would be “huge”.

“We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 so far,” he said.

United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that emergency teams were now being mobilised to help on the ground.

Mourning in solidarity

Pope Francis was among world leaders who said they were deeply saddened by the deaths and destruction in Libya.

Egypt declared three days of mourning in solidarity with Libya and Morocco, which was hit by earthquake on Saturday. Nearly 3,000 people have so far been confirmed dead in Morocco.

Libya is politically split between east and west and public services have fallen apart since a 2011 NATO-backed popular uprising that prompted years of factional conflict.

The internationally recognised government in Tripoli does not control eastern areas but has dispatched aid to Derna, with at least one relief flight leaving from the western city of Misrata on Tuesday, a Reuters journalist on the plane said.

Norway’s Refugee Council said tens of thousands of people were displaced with no prospect of going back home.

“Our team in Libya is reporting a disastrous situation for some of the most impoverished communities along the north coast. Entire villages have been overwhelmed by the floods and the death toll continues to rise,” it said, according to Reuters.