Amid demands to investigate the collapse of dams, the death toll from the storm in Libya rose to 5,300
The death toll from floods caused by Storm Daniel that struck western Libya has risen to 5,300, with about 10,000 people missing, according to an official with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Gilles Carbonet, confirmed that 3 members of the Libyan Red Crescent were killed while helping the afflicted.
Meanwhile, the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Muhammad al-Manfi, and the head of the outgoing National Unity Government, Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba, called for an investigation to be opened into the disaster of the collapse of the Derna dams.
This came at a time when the spokeswoman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations explained that the announced casualty numbers in Libya are preliminary, and that the international organization continues to evaluate the disaster.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in the Government of National Unity, Saad Eddin Abdel Wakil, announced that local and international rescue teams were able to rescue 510 people from under the rubble in the city of Derna, indicating that rescue operations and the spread of bodies are still continuing, and need some time given the presence of thousands of missing people. .
He pointed out that many areas, including Sousse, Al-Mukhaili, and Wardiya (east), need urgent intervention, so the focus will be on them in the coming hours, by sending medical teams, aid, and rescue teams.
For his part, the head of the Libyan Roads and Bridges Authority, Hussein Suwaidan, said that the torrents caused by Storm Daniel swept away all the residential buildings adjacent to Wadi Derna, and that 3 million square meters is the severely affected area in the city of Derna, indicating that the area that was swept away by the torrents , or witnessed collapses amounting to about 900 thousand square meters.
Hussein added that the length of the collapsed road network in Derna is 30 kilometers, with the collapse of 5 bridges linking the east and west of the city.
