The Sunday Mail
International efforts to help Libya in the wake of catastrophic floods are gathering pace, as the number of people feared dead continues to rise.
Rescue teams from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar are among those to have arrived.
The mayor of the devastated city of Derna estimates that as many as 20,000 people may have died.
He said the figure was based on the number of districts completely destroyed when two dams burst on Sunday, releasing a huge surge of water.
Many bodies remain under the rubble of collapsed buildings or in the sea.
Much of Derna now just rubble and bodies, resident says
All that is left of much of Derna is the rubble of collapsed buildings and the bodies of people killed in the floods, a photographer based in the eastern city has told the BBC.
Taha Muftah told Newshour on the World Service that the sound of the dams collapsing was like an air strike or heavy gunfire.
“The water now has stopped and what is left is only the rubble, and the people who were taken by the flood under the water.”
The water now has stopped and what is left is only the rubble, and the people who were taken by the flood under the water.”
Muftah says he is fortunate to live in the eastern side of Derna, which is on a hill and was spared the worst of the floods.
The photojournalist says rescuers have arrived and are “doing their best and giving all their efforts”, but they lack the necessary equipment and experience to deal with the scale of the disaster.
Experts had warned the dams were at risk of collapse since 2011 but “nobody did anything about it”, he adds. – BBC
