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TRIPOLI — Libya's prosecutor general has ordered the arrest of eight officials as part of his inquiry into the recent flood disaster that killed thousands, his office said on Monday.

The flash flood, which witnesses likened to a tsunami, broke through two ageing dams on September 10 after a hurricane-strength storm lashed the area around Derna, a port city in Libya's east.

The officials are suspected of "bad management" and negligence, among other offences, a statement from the prosecutor general's office said, adding that seven of them served currently or previously in offices responsible for water resources and dam management.

"The mistakes that they made" and their "negligence in the matter of disaster prevention" contributed to the catastrophe, the statement charged.

Derna's mayor Abdulmonem Al Ghaithi, sacked after the flood, is among the detainees.

Almost 3,900 people died in the disaster, according to the latest official toll, and international aid groups have said 10,000 or more people may be missing.

After opening a probe, Libya’s Prosecutor General Al Seddik Al Sur said more than a week ago that the two dams upstream from Derna had been cracked since 1998.

Years of conflict 

But repairs begun by a Turkish company in 2010 were suspended after a few months when Libya’s 2011 revolution flared, and the work never resumed, the prosecutor said, vowing to deal firmly with those responsible.

According to his office, the investigation is focused on a dam maintenance contract reached between the Turkish firm and Libya’s water department.

Libya is now divided between an internationally-recognised Tripoli-based administration in the west, to which Sur belongs, and another in the flood-struck east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Eastern forces years ago launched a failed assault on the capital which ended in a 2020 ceasefire. Since then a period of relative stability has held and allowed war-ravaged Libya to try to rebuild.

After the flood, hundreds of protesters rallied in Derna on September 18, accusing eastern authorities of neglect and calling for “a speedy investigation and legal action” against those responsible for the disaster.

Protesters later torched the home of Derna’s mayor, Ghaithi, and the eastern administration dissolved Derna’s municipal council.

‘Abuse of power’ 

The prosecutor general’s statement said the mayor is suspected of “abuse of power and bad management of funds allocated to city development”.

Politicians and analysts say the chaos in Libya since 2011 has left much of its vital infrastructure dilapidated.

The first dam to collapse in the disaster was the Abu Mansur dam, 13 kilometres from Derna, whose reservoir held 22.5 million cubic metres of water.

The deluge then broke Al Bilad, the second dam, which had a capacity of 1.5 million cubic metres and is just a kilometre from the coastal city.

The wall of water and debris swept through the normally dry riverbed or wadi that cuts through the city centre.

Both dams were built by a Yugoslav company in the 1970s, “not to collect water but to protect Derna from floods”, Sour said earlier.

In a 2021 report from the Libyan audit bureau, officials criticised “procrastination” on resuming repair work at the two dams.

In November 2022, engineer and academic Abdel Wanis Ashour warned in a study that a “catastrophe” threatened Derna if authorities did not carry out maintenance on the dams.

TRIPOLI — About a dozen women hunch over sewing machines in Libya's capital, urgently making clothes for the living, and shrouds for the dead, two weeks after a huge flood devastated the eastern city of Derna.

In the war-battered north African country that has long been divided between two rival governments, the tragedy that killed thousands has sparked a nationwide sense of solidarity.

"Our centre was already helping needy families, so you can imagine our mobilisation when it involves a disaster of this magnitude," said Mohamed Kamour, the director of the centre that trains women to become dressmakers.

Since the flood struck on September 10, the apprentices have worked at full speed, cutting and sewing fabric for the needy in Derna, a city more than 1,300 kilometres to the east.

All normal courses have been suspended for the aid effort, said Kamour, whose workshop usually helps widows and divorced women gain financial independence.

"That is the priority," he said. "We interrupted all types of training."

The workshop has already sent 1,300 school uniforms, 850 abayas and 650 shrouds to cover corpses to Derna, and a second shipment is being prepared.

Derna had a population of about 100,000 before the flash flood broke through two ageing dams after a hurricane-strength storm lashed the area.

The official death toll passed 3,800 on Saturday.

The flood, which witnesses likened to a tsunami, may have left 10,000 or more people missing, international aid groups said.

Many were swept out to sea, from where bodies are still washing ashore. Others are thought to be buried beneath the mud and debris that carpets entire neighbourhoods of Derna.

Libya ‘unites us’ 

Since a 2011 NATO-backed revolt toppled longtime leader Muammar Qadhafi, Libya has seen more than a decade of stop-start conflict.

It is now divided between an internationally-recognised administration in Tripoli in the west and another in the east, whose forces launched a failed assault on the capital which ended in a 2020 ceasefire.

Despite Libya’s political split, Kamour said he received the requests of stricken residents from charities based in the east, and has stepped up production in response.

The women stand over a large table crowded with the day’s output, which they sort and fold: Grey and green abayas, a traditional full-length robe; white medical smocks; shrouds for the bodies.

Karima Wanis, 39, the centre’s trainer, said she feels as if she lost members of her own family.

While sewing machines hummed in the background, she said that it is “normal to come to the aid of our Derna brothers”.

“We are part of the same family” Wanis said. “West or East. Ultimately, it’s Libya that unites us.”

Volunteer effort 

Yann Fridez, head of the Libya delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, spent three days in the disaster zone where he reported seeing people from all regions of Libya, even the southern city of Sebha hundreds of kilometres away.

People went to Derna “on their own initiative, tribes did too”, Fridez said about the country where tribal structures and loyalties remain important.

Restaurateurs have organised meals to feed the displaced.

Business people and others with the means have also mobilised in the country’s west and the south to help those suffering.

The International Organisation for Migration said on Thursday that more than 43,000 people have been uprooted from the disaster zone.

Appeals to shelter them have spread on social media.

“A family has just arrived in Tripoli from Derna. They quickly need lodging,” one Facebook post said. In response, volunteers offered their telephone numbers, a first step in providing help.

Libyan authorities said it is difficult for them to respond to survivors’ urgent needs, but international assistance has arrived from several countries and humanitarian groups.

Qatar’s embassy in Libya announced the arrival on Saturday in Benghazi of two planes carrying 60 tonnes of assistance. That brings to eight the number of shipments sent by the Gulf emirate.

On Thursday a plane bringing aid from the United States also landed in Benghazi, the eastern city about 300 kilometres by road from Derna.

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya's flood-devastated port city of Derna will host an international conference next month to aid reconstruction efforts, authorities in the east of the divided country said on Friday.

There was no immediate reaction from the internationally recognised government in Tripoli nor any details on how the rival administration would accommodate delegates in a city where entire neighbourhoods have been swept away.

A tsunami-sized flash flood broke through two ageing dams upstream from Derna after a hurricane-strength storm lashed the area on September 10, sweeping thousands of people into the sea.

"The government invites the international community to participate in the conference planned for October 10 in Derna to present modern, rapid projects for the reconstruction of the city," the eastern administration said in a statement.

It said the conference was being held in "response to the demands of residents of the stricken city of Derna and other towns that suffered damage" during the flooding.

Despite a wave of nationwide solidarity since the flood, there was no immediate show of support for the proposed conference from the Tripoli-based government of interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.

And even the office of strongman Khalifa Haftar, the main military backer of the eastern administration, questioned how many donor governments would attend.

“Are donor countries going to take part or are they going to wait for a conference organised by Dbeibah?” Haftar’s spokesman Ahmad al-Mismari asked. “This political polarisation has harmed Libyans.”

Libya has been wracked by division and on-off conflict ever since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed veteran dictator Muammar Qadhafi in 2011.

A bloody 2019 assault on Tripoli by Haftar’s forces ended in defeat by Dbeibah loyalists and an August 2020 ceasefire that largely holds.

Mass burials 

There is still no widely accepted death toll for the floods which devastated Derna and nearby coastal towns.

The latest official death toll released on Friday evening stood at 3,753 but the eventual count is expected to be far higher, with international aid groups giving estimates of up to 10,000 people missing.

Bodies are still being found in large numbers, under the debris or on beaches where they have washed up after being swept out to the sea by the flood.

On Friday, dozens of bodies were delivered in a lorry and two pick-ups to the village cemetery in Martouba, 27 kilometres southeast of Derna, for burial, footage posted on social media showed.

Libyan media said 200 people were buried in the cemetery in a single day.

The International Organization for Migration said Thursday that more than 43,000 people have been displaced from the disaster zone.

It said a “lack of water supply is reportedly driving many displaced out of Derna”.

In Susa, about 60 kilometres to the west, residents complained that they too had no access to drinking water after the flood badly damaged a desalination plant.

Instead, volunteers have to “bring water from nearby cities in big trucks”, 34-year-old Ahmed Saleh told AFP.

Mobile and internet services were restored in Derna on Thursday following a two-day disruption that came after demonstrations by angry residents on Monday.

The protests saw hundreds of demonstrators gather outside the city’s grand mosque, chanting slogans against the eastern-based parliament and its leader and calling for accountability over the high death toll.

Amnesty International reported “arrests of critics and protesters” in Derna and criticised “efforts to choreograph and control media access”.

The dams that burst had developed cracks as far back as the 1990s, Libya’s top prosecutor has said, as residents accused authorities of negligence.

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group said in a report issued on Tuesday that a deluge of the magnitude seen in eastern Libya was an event that occurred once every 300-600 years.

They said such downpours were both more likely and heavier because of human-caused global warming, resulting in up to 50 per cent more rain.

DERNA — Libya's devastating flood has transformed Derna from a busy port welcoming fishing boats and ships loaded with goods and passengers into a dump brimming with rubble, car wrecks and dead bodies.

Tugboat captain Ali Al Mismari, 60, recalled the night of September 10 when torrential rains caused by Storm Daniel battered the eastern Libyan city, bursting two dams and wiping out entire neighbourhoods.

At first, Mismari told AFP, he wanted to take his boat, the "Irasa", out of the harbour to avoid putting the crew at risk and to avoid damage to the vessel.

But in the chaos of the storm, with water levels rapidly rising, he was unable to see the seawalls surrounding the port and navigate a safe exit.

"There was nothing [to do] but pray," he said.

When day broke, the scale of the devastation became clear.

Mismari said he saw "massive trucks, car tyres, people, houses, entire palm trees... heaters, washing machines, refrigerators" had all been washed into the harbour by the flash flood.

The official death toll from the disaster stands at more than 3,300 — but the eventual count is expected to be far higher, with international aid groups giving estimates of up to 10,000 people missing.

'Zero visibility' 

Since the tsunami-sized flood lashed Derna, port workers, fishermen and passers-by have largely abandoned the seafront, and only a handful of vessels, the Irasa included, were still there.

The tugboat was enlisted along with local and foreign teams to clear the bottom of the harbour.

The walkways surrounding the port are now paved with items retrieved by divers.

Captain Mohamed Chalibta, head of the port authority's crisis management committee, said the search was concentrated on "objects that had sunk in the port", including cars with people still thought to be inside.

An Emirati team, equipped with boats and jet skis, scoured one part of the harbour.

But the water was dark brown, filled with mud brought by the flood, and there was virtually "zero visibility", according to one of the divers.

The Emirati search mission chief, Col. Ali Abdullah Al Naqbi, was giving directions to his team, stressing the need to take full precautions.

Two by two, scuba divers secured with safety ropes descended from their yellow boat.

One emerged from the muddy water after a short while, and said: "We tied [a rope] to a car. We can't see anything."

Another diver meanwhile found a second car.

Back on their boat, other team members helped the divers remove foliage that had become stuck on them and sprinkled fresh water on their faces.

The Emirati team, in coordination with Libyan authorities, called in a crane that pulled one of the mangled wrecks out the water.

Survivor in fridge 

As it was being removed, mud, water and what appeared to be human remains spilled out of the vehicle.

Lowered onto the dock, Libyan men in white coats, gloves and face masks took over to check the vehicle for bodies, but on this occasion they found none.

Officials expect the process of clearing the port to take a long time.

Rescuers are also searching the sea beyond the harbour, with maritime experts saying many bodies may have been carried eastward by the current.

Hafez Obeid, head of the Libyan forensic team, said the salinity of the water helps to preserve bodies, making the identification process easier than for corpses found on land.

Aboard the Irasa, captain Mismari said "private fishing boats were the first to rush to the rescue" on the night of the disaster.

Next to him, technician Taoufik Akrouch, 61, recalled that "the water level rose above the dock by about one-and-a-half metres".

The Irasa began tilting violently and the crew started its engines before cutting mooring lines.

At dawn, they heard a cry for help.

They found a survivor — a naked woman floating inside a refrigerator, according to two crew members.

They said she asked them: "Where is my sister?"

Another survivor rescued by Mismari's team, an Egyptian, could not say how he got to the harbour.

"He had been sleeping, and then found himself there," Mismari said. "Maybe he had been unconscious."

KANSAFRA, Syria — In a battered village in Syria’s last main opposition bastion, one resident has hewn a bomb shelter out of rock to stay on his land and protect his family from attacks.

Kansafra, in the south of Idlib province, often comes under Syrian army fire targeting jihadists who control the area, while Russian warplanes circle above and carry out air strikes in support of ally Damascus.

Many families have fled the village, located less than two kilometres from the front lines.

Now, just a few shops remain open, while heavily damaged buildings line the streets.

But Ahmad Khalil, 53, would not leave.

“People keep telling us to go to a camp for displaced people, but these camps are a thousand times worse,” he said.

Khalil carved out the shelter next to his house in 2017.

Winding, narrow steps lead down to a small room with a low, curved roof, illuminated with sunlight from a shaft and a dim lamp.

“I prefer to stay here under the bombs,” he said, even though the shelter is “like a grave”.

The rebel-held Idlib region in Syria’s northwest is home to about three million people, around half of them displaced from other parts of the country during more than a decade of conflict.

Many live in impoverished tented settlements, dependent on international aid.

Extremist group Hayat Tahrir A-Sham, led by Syria’s former Al Qaeda affiliate, controls swathes of Idlib, as well as parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.

Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, so Khalil’s family has been spending more time underground.

Whenever they hear shelling or warplanes, they run to the shelter.

“There are always aircraft flying over the village and the area, it never stops. The life we lead is worse than death,” said Khalil, who has two wives and seven children.

Mostly bereft of furniture, the shelter is covered with basic floor mats. Jars of vine leaves and other fermented vegetables are stored in the cool of the underground cave.

Buying bread means a walk to the nearest shop, at constant risk of attack.

Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011 after the government’s repression of peaceful demonstrations escalated into a deadly conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global jihadists.

The war has killed more than 500,000 people and battered the country’s infrastructure and industry.

With Russian and Iranian support, Damascus has clawed back much of the territory it lost to rebels early in the conflict.

In the family’s sombre shelter, two of Khalil’s young sons played with toys on the ground.

“My children dream of living like any other children, of going out and playing outside,” said the father.

But here, “there are no other children for them to play with... and the entire region is in ruins”, he added.

“This is no life.”