Rescuers recover more than 2,000 bodies in eastern Libya after catastrophic floods

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CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Rescuers had found more than 2,000 bodies by Wednesday among the remains of a Libyan city where floodwaters breached dams and washed away entire neighborhoods. Authorities feared the death toll could exceed 5,000 people, in a country vulnerable after years of violence and misrule.

Mediterranean Storm Daniel caused deadly flooding in many eastern towns, although Derna was the worst affected. As the storm battered the coast Sunday night, Derna residents said they heard loud explosions as dams outside the city collapsed. The waters overflowed Wadi Derna, a river that comes down from the mountains and crosses the city until it reaches the sea.

More than 2,000 bodies had been collected by Wednesday morning, more than half of which had been buried in mass graves in Derna, eastern Libya’s Health Minister Othman Abduljaleel said. Rescue teams worked day and night to recover many other bodies scattered on the streets and under rubble in the city. Some bodies were recovered from the sea.

The shocking devastation was a reflection of the intensity of the storm, but also of Libya’s vulnerability. The country is divided between rival governments, one to the east and one to the west, and the result has been a lack of attention to infrastructure in many places.

The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to Derna, complicating the arrival of international rescue teams and humanitarian aid for the tens of thousands of people who saw their homes damaged or destroyed.

Local emergency workers, including soldiers, officials, volunteers and residents, continued to dig through the rubble to search for the dead. They also used inflatable boats and helicopters to recover bodies from the water and from areas that were difficult to access.

The bulldozers had been working for two days to repair and clear roads to allow the arrival of humanitarian aid and urgently needed heavy equipment for search and rescue operations. The city is 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Benghazi, where international aid began arriving on Tuesday.

Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, spokesman for the eastern Libyan Interior Ministry, reported more than 5,300 deaths in Derna on Tuesday, according to the state news agency. Dozens more deaths were reported in other towns in the region, he added.

Authorities have transferred hundreds of bodies to morgues in nearby towns. In the city of Tobruk, 169 kilometers (105 miles) to the east, the Tobruk Medical Center morgue received more than 300 bodies from the Derna floods. Among them were 84 Egyptians, according to a list of dead seen by The Associated Press.

At least 10,000 people were still missing in the city, said Tamer Ramadan, envoy to Libya for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Derna, known for its white houses and palm trees, is located about 900 kilometers (560 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli. It is controlled by the forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter, an ally of the government in eastern Libya. The rival government in western Libya, which is based in Tripoli, is allied with other armed groups.

Much of the city was built by Italy when Libya was under Italian occupation in the first half of the 20th century. The city was a hub for extremist groups in the years of chaos that followed the NATO-backed uprising in which longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi was ousted and assassinated in 2011.