TUNIS (Reuters) – Over 1,000 bodies have been recovered in the eastern Libyan city of Derna after it was hit by floods, a minister in the eastern administration said on Tuesday, adding hit was not possible to know the overall toll at present but it would be very big.
“I returned from Derna. It is very disastrous. Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” Hichem Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation and member of the emergency committee, told Reuters by phone.
“The number of bodies recovered in Derna is more 1,000,” he said. He expected the final toll would be “really, really big”. “I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.”.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alison Williams)
