Libya Coastal City Flood: 1,000 Bodies Found, 10,000 People Feared Missing

Floods in Derna, Libya. (Derna Zoom via Twitter/@WxNB_)

JAKARTA - About a quarter of Derna City in eastern Libya was destroyed as a dam broke out in a storm, the government said in the region on Tuesday, while the Red Cross said 10,000 people were feared to be due to flooding.

Meanwhile, about 1,000 bodies have been found in Derna City, with officials estimating the death toll would be much higher, after Hurricane Daniel hit the Mediterranean sweeping the area.

"I'm back from Derna. It's very dangerous. The bodies are lying everywhere, at sea, in valleys, under buildings," the Civil Aviation Minister and members of the emergency committee in the government that controlled the eastern region of Hichem Abu Chkiouat told Reuters by telephone.

"The number of bodies found in Derna is more than 1,000. I did not overestimate when I said 25 percent of cities had disappeared. Many buildings collapsed," he continued.

Abu Chkiouat later told Al Jazeera he expected the death toll across the country to reach more than 2,500, as the number of missing persons continued to rise.

"We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing persons so far has reached 10,000," Tamer Ramadan, chairman of the International Federation delegation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Association (IFRC) told reporters in Geneva via video link from Tunisia.

A video shows heavy currents flowing through the center of Denna City after the dam burst. The destroyed buildings stood on both sides.

Another video shared on Facebook, which is not independently verifiable by Reuters, shows dozens of bodies covered in blankets on the sidewalk.

Libya is politically divided between the east and west. Public services have been destroyed since the NATO-backed insurgency in 2011 and sparked years of conflict.

The internationally recognized government in Tripoli does not control the eastern region, but has sent aid to Derna. Meanwhile, aid convoys and rescue teams are heading to the city.

Meanwhile, other countries, including the United States, also said they would help.