Libya continues search for the missing as bodies wash up on its shores

A desperate search for the missing continues in the Libyan city of Derna, where bodies are still washing up on its shores or decaying under rubble nearly a week after Storm Daniel triggered devastating floods in the country’s east, which has suffered years of neglect amid political divisions.

The International Organization for Migration’s mission in Libya has said that more than 5,000 people are presumed dead, with 3,922 deaths registered in hospitals. The Libyan Red Crescent on Friday put the death toll at more than 11,000, while thousands remain missing.Nearly 40,000 people have been displaced in the wake of the disaster, which was compounded by the bursting of two ageing dams.

Al Jazeera’s Mohamed al Bakkali, reporting from Derna, said at least 10 bodies had been recovered on Saturday morning. “Chances of finding any survivors are very slim. Instead, rescuers are finding more bodies than survivors,” he said.

Kamal Al-Siwi, an official in charge of missing people in Libya, said more than 450 bodies had been recovered in the past three days from the seashore, including 10 from under rubble.

“The work is ongoing and is very, very, very complicated,” he told the Reuters news agency. “This operation, in my opinion, needs months and years.”At Derna’s seafront on Saturday – where a wrecked car could be seen perched on top of concrete storm breakers and driftwood was strewn across muddy pools – diggers worked to clear the path for rescue teams and a helicopter scanned the sea for bodies.

Entire districts of Derna, with an estimated population of at least 120,000, were swept away or buried in brown mud after two dams south of the city broke on Sunday night, unleashing torrents of floodwater down a usually dry riverbed.

“We were all taken by surprise. We never expected such a catastrophe,” Derna resident Khalid told Al Jazeera. “I lost my young daughter. May God accept her and have mercy… we are helpless. God almighty is our rock.”Turkey-based journalist Nour El Jebri, who hails from Derna, said dozens of her family members were stuck on the roof of their two-storey house for a whole night as water from the collapsed dam inundated their house.At Derna’s seafront on Saturday – where a wrecked car could be seen perched on top of concrete storm breakers and driftwood was strewn across muddy pools – diggers worked to clear the path for rescue teams and a helicopter scanned the sea for bodies.

Entire districts of Derna, with an estimated population of at least 120,000, were swept away or buried in brown mud after two dams south of the city broke on Sunday night, unleashing torrents of floodwater down a usually dry riverbed.

“We were all taken by surprise. We never expected such a catastrophe,” Derna resident Khalid told Al Jazeera. “I lost my young daughter. May God accept her and have mercy… we are helpless. God almighty is our rock.”Turkey-based journalist Nour El Jebri, who hails from Derna, said dozens of her family members were stuck on the roof of their two-storey house for a whole night as water from the collapsed dam inundated their house.“It was a very tragic night. They could hear people shouting and screaming… as the water took them towards the sea. They were helpless,” El Jebri told Al Jazeera from the Turkish city of Istanbul. “My family is not in a very good mental state.”

International aid
International aid is beginning to arrive in flood-hit regions from the United Nations, Europe, Russia and Middle Eastern countries.

The World Health Organization said on Saturday it had flown in enough emergency aid to reach nearly 250,000 people affected by Storm Daniel across eastern Libya, including essential medicines, surgery supplies and body bags for the deceased. The UN humanitarian affairs office has launched an appeal for $71m for those affected.