Official Libya flood toll tops 3,800

BENGHAZI, Libya: Nearly two weeks after a flash flood devastated the Libyan port city of Derna, the official death toll keeps rising, passing 3,800 on Saturday.

A total of 3,845 people are now confirmed to have died, said Mohamed Eljarh, spokesman for the relief committee set up by the authorities in eastern Libya. He said the figure included only those whose burial had been recorded by the health ministry, so it is “expected to rise every day unfortunately”.

Bodies buried by residents in the first few days after the disaster struck on the night of September 10-11 had not been included, he said.

Officials were working with the community to compile a list of unrecorded burials as well as a register of the missing, who international aid organisations say may number 10,000 or more. Many of the dead are believed to have been swept out to sea, from where their bodies are still washing ashore. Others are thought to be buried beneath the debris that carpets whole neighbourhoods of Derna.