- By Anushka Vats
- Tue, 12 Sep 2023 02:48 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Libya Floods: More than 1,000 bodies have been recovered in the eastern Libyan city of Derna, after it was hit by floods, said a minister in the eastern administration on Tuesday. Hichem Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation and member of the emergency committee stated that the final toll was expected to be very big.
"I returned from Derna. It is very disastrous. Bodies are lying everywhere - in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings," Hichem Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation and member of the emergency committee, told Reuters by phone.
"The number of bodies recovered in Derna is more 1,000," he said. He expected the final toll would be "really, really big". "I am not exaggerating when I say that 25 per cent of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed," he said as quoted by Reuters.
A view shows a damaged car on a road, after a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hit Qandula, Libya, September 12, 2023 (Image Credits: Reuters)
Meanwhile, the Libyan government on Tuesday sent an emergency medical supply plane carrying 14 tonnes of supplies, medications, equipment, body bags and 87 medical and paramedic personnel to Benghazi to support the areas affected by the flood, said head of Libya's Government of National Unity, Abdulhamid al Dbeibah, said Tuesday on the social media platform X.
Earlier in the day, the death toll was recorded at over 2,000. According to Libyan News Agency, Osama Hamad, the president of Libya's eastern parliament-backed administration, verified the death toll on Monday.
Several videos that went viral on social media platforms showed the devasting situation of the flood-affected regions. Storm Daniel swept away entire areas and ruined homes in a number of coastal towns, with the city of Derna "cut off completely" after two old dams burst.
(With inputs from ANI and Reuters)
