“Numbers are expected to grow … to at least 5,000 victims,” Shennib said. “There’s no internet connection, no electricity … the magnitude of the disaster that has happened in the city is just growing by the minute,” Hani Shennib, president of the National Council on US-Libya Relations, told Al Jazeera. Multistorey apartment buildings that once stood well back from the river were partially collapsed into the mud. Entire residential areas were erased along a river that runs down from the mountains through the city centre.
Videos posted online by residents of the city showed substantial devastation. “Some experts are saying more than 30 million cubic square metres of water was dumped into the city, and we’re starting to see pictures of entire neighbourhoods destroyed.”ĭerna resident Ahmed Mohamed said, “We were asleep and when we woke up we found water besieging the house. We confirm from our independent sources of information the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 persons so far,” said Ramadan Derna is inaccessible and many of the thousands missing are believed to have been carried away Īl Jazeera’s Malik Traina, reporting from the capital Tripoli in Libya’s west, said the collapse of the dams unleashed a massive wall of water. “The death toll is huge and might reach thousands. Tamer Ramadan, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, confirmed the number of dead is likely to jump significantly.
He said between 5,000 and 6,000 people were reported missing.Īl-Mosmari attributed the catastrophe to the collapse of two nearby dams that caused a lethal flash flood. “The number of bodies recovered in Derna is more 1,000,” he said, adding the final toll will be “really, really big”.Īhmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for the country’s armed forces based in the east, told a news conference the death toll in Derna surpassed 2,000. I am not exaggerating when I say 25 percent of the city has disappeared,” said Hichem Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation and member of the emergency committee. Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings. Keep reading list of 3 items list 1 of 3 Analysis: Fallout from Israel meeting shows militia power in Libya list 2 of 3 Israel’s Netanyahu wants to approve all secret talks after Libya debacle list 3 of 3 Death typical of Libyan camps say former detainees after video emerges end of list
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