Rescue teams continue to comb through the rubble while some survivors report miraculous escapes
Rescuers and relatives search for bodies of the flood victims in the city of Derna, Libya. Photograph: Abdulaziz Almnsori/APShouts of “God is Great, a survivor!” and “call an ambulance” rang out from onlookers as rescue teams searched through the rubble of a collapsed building in the eastern Libyan city of Derna. An hour later on Saturday evening rescuers were still working but no one had been found.
Destruction wrought by the storm that swelled up the river and swept away two ageing dams in Derna's hills. Photograph: Yousef Murad/AP Samah Abdel Hamid, a mother of six who lost her eldest son, said she and her other children floated on the sponge cushions in their homes. “When the water came down, I thought my children had died, but I found them in the other rooms.”Noha al-Hassady, a teacher now with her family in a Red Crescent shelter, saw the front of a car being pushed by the water through her window when her husband opened it. The family of four survived the rising waters.
“It is the municipality of Derna which bears the responsibility for this,” said Soheib, a young Libyan who said that his family home was ripped from its foundation and moved dozens of metres downstream, accusing local politicians of stealing millions of euros intended to fix the dams. According to a 2021 report by a state-run audit agency, the two dams had not been maintained even though authorities had received more than $2mn for that purpose in 2012 and 2013.