Residents and rescue workers in the devastated Libyan city of Derna are struggling to cope with the thousands of corpses washing up or decaying under rubble, after a flood that smashed down buildings and swept people to sea.
Swathes of Derna, centrepoint of the destruction in Libya’s east, were obliterated when the dams above the city broke, and the flood that swept down a usually dry riverbed brought down whole residential blocks while families were asleep.The International Organisation for Migration mission in Libya said more than 5000 people were presumed dead, with 3,922 deaths registered in hospitals, and over 38,640 were displaced in the flood-stricken region.
It called for individual graves, demarcated and documented, saying that hasty interments could lead to mental anguish for families as well as social and legal problems. Thursday’s UN report said more than 1000 bodies in Derna and over 100 in Al Bayda, another coastal city hit by flooding, had been buried in mass graves.
The ICRC sent a cargo flight to Benghazi, eastern Libya’s largest city, on Friday with 5000 body bags. Other aid has also been coming in from abroad.