Thousands of people have been killed in Libya in the flooding caused by heavy rains that devastated parts of the country this weekend, a disaster exacerbated by the collapse of two dams in the coastal city of Derna, aid agencies said on Tuesday.
Tamer Ramadan, head of the Libya delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the death toll from the flooding was expected to reach thousands in coming days.
Speaking to reporters at a U.N. briefing via videoconference from Tunisia, he said 10,000 people were missing, and that those figures were based on reports from the Libyan Red Crescent on the ground.
A Libyan ambulance and emergency services department said least 2,300 people had died and more than 5,000 were missing after heavy rainfall over the weekend in the northeast of Libya swelled waters over riverbanks, sweeping away homes and cutting off roads.
The collapse of the dams, south of Derna, deepened the disaster after they unleashed water that swept through the city and carried “entire neighborhoods” into the sea, Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesman for the Libyan National Army, the dominant political force in the area, said in a televised news conference on Monday.
Persons:
Tamer Ramadan, Ahmed al
Organizations:
International Federation of Red, Red Crescent Societies, Crescent, Libyan National Army
Locations:
Libya, Derna, videoconference, Tunisia, Libyan