The floods caused almost two weeks ago in Libya by Storm Daniel left more than 3,800 dead, according to a new, still provisional, report communicated on the evening of Saturday September 23 by the eastern Libyan authorities. The raging floods which devastated the town of Derna, in the eastern part of the country, left at least 3,845 victims, according to the count stopped “this afternoon”, announced Mohamed Eljarh, spokesperson for a committee overseeing relief, formed by the Eastern government.
This figure, which, according to him, only includes bodies buried and recorded by the Ministry of Health, “is expected to increase every day,” he said. Mohamed Eljarh explained that the bodies hastily buried by residents in the first days following the disaster have still not been counted.
According to him, the authorities are working to identify the victims buried without identification as well as the missing, whose number rises to more than 10,000, according to estimates by the authorities and international humanitarian organizations. He called on residents to report the missing to two offices set up by the attorney general in Derna.
Meanwhile, searches continue to find bodies under the rubble or at sea. At least nine foreign teams are still participating, according to Mr. Eljarh.
Storm Daniel notably hit Derna, a town of 100,000 inhabitants bordering the Mediterranean, causing the rupture of two dams upstream and causing a flood of the magnitude of a tsunami, washing away everything in its path. More than 43,000 people have been displaced by the floods, according to the latest statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).