A week after Libya flood, aid effort gains pace

A week after a tsunami-sized flash flood devastated the Libyan coastal city of Derna, sweeping thousands to their deaths, the international aid effort to help the grieving survivors slowly gathered pace Sunday.

Search-and-rescue teams wearing face masks and protective suits kept up the grim search for bodies or any survivors in the mud-caked wasteland of smashed buildings, crushed cars and uprooted trees.

Traumatised residents, 30,000 of whom are now homeless in Derna alone, badly need clean water, food, shelter and basic supplies amid a growing risk of cholera, diarrhoea, dehydration and malnutrition, UN agencies warn.

"In this city, every single family has been affected," said one resident, Mohammad al-Dawali.

Another, Mohamed al-Zawi, 25, recounted how he saw "a large mountain of water bringing with it cars, people, belongings... and pouring everything out into the sea".

Amid the chaos, the true death toll remained unknown, with untold numbers swept into the sea.

The health minister of the eastern administration, Othman Abdeljalil, has said 3,283 people were confirmed dead in Derna after another 31 bodies were recovered on Sunday.

Libyan officials and humanitarian organisations have warned, however, that the final toll could be much higher with thousands still missing.

Members of a Greek rescue team travelling from Benghazi to Derna were involved in a traffic accident on Sunday, authorities in both countries said.

Abdeljalil told reporters in Derna four rescue team members died and 15 were injured, seven seriously, after their coach was in collision with a car in which three Libyan family members died.

In Athens, a statement Greek National Defence General Staff statement said there had been an accident but spoke only of "minor injuries" among the team members, and that the circumstances "have yet to be clarified".

UN Libya envoy Abdoulaye Bathily visited Derna on Saturday, and posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the devastation was "truly heart-wrenching. I saw firsthand the magnitude of the disaster. This crisis is beyond Libya's capacity to manage, it goes beyond politics and borders."

Emergency response teams and aid have been deployed from France, Greece, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, with more on the way from other nations.

A week after the disaster, bodies are still washing up on the shore, along with vast amounts of debris.

Hamza Al-Khafifi, 45, a soldier from Benghazi, described to AFP finding the unclothed bodies of "old, young, women, men and children".

"Bodies were stuck between rocks," he said.

A Libyan rescue team in an inflatable boat reported seeing "perhaps 600 bodies" at sea off the Om-al-Briket region, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Derna, according to a video shared on social networks.

The United Nations has launched an aid appeal for more than $71 million.

The aid being sent to Libya includes water, food, tents, blankets, hygiene kits, medicines and emergency surgical supplies as well as heavy machinery to help clear the debris, and more body bags.

The scale of the devastation in Derna and surrounding areas has prompted shows of solidarity across divided Libya, as volunteers in Tripoli have collected aid for the flood victims.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that unexploded landmines and other ordnance from the war may have been washed into areas previously free of weapon contamination.