Bodies Found in Cars Recovered from Derna Flood Disaster
(AWP) - Giant cranes are stationed off the beaches of the ravaged city of Derna, eastern Libya, to recover cars that were swept into the sea by the flooding that followed Storm Daniel.
Rescue teams said they recovered vehicles containing decomposed bodies on Thursday after they had been in the water for nearly nine days since floodwaters submerged large swathes of Derna, destroying around a quarter of it and wiping entire neighbourhoods off the map.
Official rescue agencies in Libya said they recovered more than 225 bodies from the seabed, where the rescue efforts are currently concentrated.
The Libyan authorities say they have so far mass-buried 4,000 bodies of victims of the catastrophe that took place on September 11. Even though days have passed, Libyan teams are still searching in the sea despite the withdrawal of several foreign relief teams that had rushed to Derna in the aftermath of the storm.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Libya said on Thursday that more than 43,000 people had been displaced from Derna due to the flooding that struck eastern Libya and left widespread destruction.
The port city of Derna was the hardest hit after the collapse of two dams due to the torrents. The residents blame the authorities for failing to provide the necessary maintenance works for the dams.
The Libyan House of Representatives this week urged the parliament-approved government to announce daily statistics on the victims and the missing.
It also urged the government to “expedite the provision of housing for families that have become homeless or whose houses became uninhabitable.”
The parliament also announced the start of debates on a draft law to establish an agency for the rehabilitation of cities and regions affected by the flooding.
Othman Abdel-Jalil, Minister of Health in the parliament-endorsed government, had earlier criticized statements made by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that estimated the death toll from the floods at around 11,300 people killed and 10,100 others missing in Derna alone, in addition to nearly 170 killed in different parts of eastern Libya.