Libya's Flood Death Toll Continues To Rise, Team Worries The Epidemic Due To The Large Number Of Bodies

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

JAKARTA - Rescue teams conducting searches and evacuations at the Libyan flood disaster site in Derna City are concerned about the condition of the number of bodies, as the number of disaster victims continues to grow, while relatives are desperate to find survivors.

A large storm that swept through the city area on the coast on the weekend, causing the dam over the city of Derna to collapse on Sunday night, sweeping buildings and houses while the occupants were asleep.

The beach was filled with clothes, toys, furniture, shoes and other assets that were swept away by the swift currents from homes.

The road was covered in thick mud and filled with fallen trees and hundreds of cars were damaged, many overturned or the roof overturned. One car was caught on the balcony of the second floor of a destroyed building.

Officials said the number of missing persons was 10,000. UN aid agency OCHA said the number of victims was at least 5,000.

The damage was evident from the high points above Derna, where the densely populated city center, which was built along the bottom of the seasonal river, is now in the form of a moon-shaped flat ground with a stretch of muddy water in the sun. The buildings were swept away.

The death toll given by officials has so far varied, but it has all reached thousands.

Hichem Abu Chkiouat, Minister of Civil Aviation in the government that rules eastern Libya, told Reuters as reported September 14, the death toll that has been calculated so far has reached 5,300.

"This number is likely to increase significantly and may even double," he said.

"The sea continues to dispose of dozens of bodies," he said by telephone.

Meanwhile, Tariq Kharaz, spokesman for the eastern authority, said 3,200 bodies had been found, 1,100 of which had not been identified.

Separately, the Mayor of Derna Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi told Al Arabiya television the estimated death toll in the city could reach 18,000 to 20,000 based on the number of districts destroyed by the floods.

Furthermore, al-Ghaithi said rescue teams had arrived from Egypt, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Qatar.

"We actually need a special team to handle the recovery of bodies," he said.

"I am afraid that this city will catch an epidemic because of the large number of bodies buried in the rubble and in the water," said al-Ghaithi.

The search and rescue team also had similar concerns, expressing their need for bags for bodies.

"We need bags for the bodies," Lutfi al-Misrati, director of the search team, told Al Jazeera.

Regarding displaced communities, the UN migration agency, the International Organization for Migration, said at least 30,000 people had fled Derna.

Rescue operations are complicated by deep political divisions in a country of 7 million people who do not have a strong central government, continuing to experience armed conflict since the NATO-backed insurgency toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) is based in Tripoli, in the west. Meanwhile, parallel governments operate in the east, including Derna.

Libya's Tripoli-based Prime Minister, Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, called the flood an unprecedented disaster. Libya's Presidential Council chairman Mohammed al-Menfi called for national unity.

The bodies of dozens of Egyptian migrants who were victims of a storm in Libya arrived Wednesday in Beni Suef, about 110 km (68 miles) south of Cairo, Egyptian media reported.