The spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior in the government appointed by the House of Representatives, Tariq Al-Kharaz, said on Tuesday that the death toll of Storm Daniel, which struck the eastern region of the country, reached 5,200 people in Derna alone, adding that 1,300 bodies out of that number were buried after the families had identified them, while there were entire families who died, The Libya Observer reported.
Al-Kharaz said the number of bodies that had not been identified was massive and couldn't be buried at present because of the lack of resources and support, expecting the death toll from the floods in Derna to rise to more than 10,000 people.
He also said there were still many unrecovered bodies, adding that specialized rescue teams from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt were working to recover the bodies that had been swept into the sea by the torrents.
Storm Daniel swept through several areas in eastern Libya on Sunday, especially the cities of Derna, Benghazi, and Al-Bayda, in addition to Sousse and Al-Marj, leaving thousands dead and missing, and causing major infrastructure damage.
On Monday, Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah declared all the municipalities that were hit by Storm Daniel and ensuing floods in the east of the country as disaster areas.
He also declared, during an emergency Cabinet session, mourning for a period of 3 days, directing all “officials and ministers without exception to assess the conditions in the eastern region."
RHM/PR