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The UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has directed to send urgent relief aid and search and rescue teams to Libya to support its efforts in mitigating the repercussions of the floods caused by Storm Daniel, which resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, and caused severe damage.
Sheikh Mohamed expressed his sincere condolences and sympathy to the State of Libya, its people and the families of the victims of this tragedy, wishing a speedy recovery for all the injured.
Catastrophic storm
At least 150 people were killed when freak floods hit eastern Libya, officials said Monday, after storm “Daniel” swept the Mediterranean, its torrential rains earlier lashing Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece.
Images filmed by residents of the Libyan disaster area showed massive mudslides, collapsed buildings and entire neighbourhoods submerged under muddy water.
Speaking on Libyan network Almasar, Oussama Hamad, prime minister of the east-based government, reported “more than 2,000 dead and thousands missing” in the city of Derna alone, but no medical sources or emergency services have confirmed such figures.
While media outlets in eastern Libya have largely picked up on Hamad’s remarks, separate tolls reported from various areas add up to far lower figures.
Mohamed Massoud, a spokesman for Hamad’s Benghazi-based administration, said earlier that “at least 150 people were killed as a result of flooding and torrential rains left by storm Daniel in Derna, Jabal al-Akhdar region and the suburbs of Al-Marj”.
“This is besides the massive material damage that struck public and private properties,” he told AFP.
Hundreds of residents were still believed to be trapped in difficult-to-reach areas as rescuers, backed by the army, were trying to come to their aid.
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