Africa
At least 85 civilians killed by a Nigerian army drone attack, in the latest such deadly mistake
At least 85 civilians were killed when an army drone attack erroneously targeted a religious gathering in northwest Nigeria, officials confirmed Tuesday, as the president ordered an investigation into the latest in a series of such deadly mistakes in Nigeria’s conflict zones.
The strike took place Sunday night in Kaduna state's Tudun Biri village while residents observed the Muslim holiday marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, government officials said. The military believed it was “targeting terrorists and bandits," officials said.
At least 66 people also were injured in the attack, the National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. Eighty-five bodies, including of children, women and the elderly, have been buried so far, as a search continues for any additional victims, the agency said.
Nigeria’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, apologized for the drone strike during a visit to the village Tuesday and said it had been carried out "based on the observation of some tactics usually employed by bandits.”
“Unfortunately, the reports we got revealed it was innocent civilians that the drone conducted a strike on,” Lagbaja said.
Since 2017, some 400 civilians have been killed by airstrikes that the military said were targeting armed groups in the deadly security crisis in the country’s north, according to the Lagos-based SBM Intelligence security firm.
“The incidence of miscalculated airstrikes is assuming a worrisome dimension in the country,” said Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former vice-president and the main opposition presidential candidate in this year’s election.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered “a thorough and full-fledged investigation into the incident.” However, such investigations and their outcomes are often shrouded in secrecy.
Nigeria’s military often conducts air raids as it fights the extremist violence and rebel attacks that have destabilized Nigeria’s north for more than a decade, often leaving civilian casualties in its wake, including in January when dozens were killed in Nasarawa state and in December 2022 when dozens also died in Zamfara state.
Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters, said in a statement Tuesday that terror suspects often “deliberately embed themselves within civilian population centers," though he wasn't speaking specifically about Sunday's holiday gathering.
Analysts have in the past raised concerns about the lack of collaboration among Nigerian security agencies as well as the absence of due diligence in some of their special operations in conflict zones.
One major concern has been the proliferation of drones within Nigerian security agencies such that “there is no guiding principle one when these can be used,” according to Kabir Adamu, the founder of Beacon Consulting, a security firm based in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
"The military sees itself as a little bit over and above civilian accountability as it were," Adamu said.
In the incident in Nasarawa in January, when 39 people were killed, the Nigerian air force “provided little information and no justice” over the incident, Human Rights Watch said.
Such incidents are enabled by a lack of punishment for erring officers or agencies, according to Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International's director in Nigeria.
"The Nigerian military is taking lightly the lack of consequences ... and the civilians they are supposed to protect are the ones paying the price of their incompetence and lack of due diligence," Sanusi told The Associated Press.
Daraz concludes 11.11 sale campaign
Daraz has concluded its highly anticipated “11.11 Biggest Sale of the Year” campaign serving 20 million consumers across Bangladesh.
The goal of Daraz is to make e-commerce accessible for everyone by offering the best prices and variety to the local communities.
“This year, staples such as salt and milk powder were among the top selling products and shoppers enjoyed substantial savings on their purchases reaffirming Daraz’s commitment to helping local communities improve their quality of life,” reads an official press release from Daraz.
“Daraz is committed to helping sellers scale their online businesses and facilitated sales for 30,000 brands and sellers during this year’s 11.11 sale,” reads the press release.
From offering onboarding workshops to rolling out new co-funded programs that aim at lowering sellers’ cost of doing business, Daraz saw 100% more sellers who made at least 1,500 Tk in sales within the first 24 hours on 11.11, according to the press release.
The country’s leading e-commerce platform also provided opportunities for content creators to develop their careers and generate income, with the content creators seeing more than 400% growth in earnings during the 11.11 sale this year compared to last year.
In this year’s campaign, Daraz achieved 600% growth in shoppers outside Dhaka fueled by the expansion of its delivery network to cover more than cities in Bangladesh.
“Together with the support of Daraz logistics partners that employed over 2,500 riders, Daraz expanded its delivery coverage to connect more buyers and sellers across the nation, delivering as far as 576 kilometers for its furthest package delivery from Chattogram to Tetulia, reads the press release.
Daraz CEO, Bjarke Mikkelsen, highlighted the platform's role in these challenging times, stating, "In a time of economic uncertainty and rising inflation, our mission to uplift communities through the power of commerce has never been more relevant. This year, we doubled down on helping sellers maximise their sales while making online shopping more accessible, affordable, and rewarding for shoppers..”
“We are thankful to everyone - shoppers, sellers, brands, creators, partners and the incredible Daraz team - for without them, the success of Daraz 11.11 would not have been possible,” said Bjarke Mikkelsen.
40 people dead in Kenya and Somalia as heavy rains and flash floods displace thousands
Heavy rains and flash flooding have killed at least 40 people and displaced tens of thousands in Kenya and Somalia, aid agencies reported Monday.
In Somalia, the government declared an emergency after the extreme weather killed at least 25 people and destroyed homes, roads and bridges. Emergency and rescue workers were trying to reach an estimated 2,400 residents trapped by floodwaters in the Luuq district of southern Somalia’s Jubaland state.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned of a high risk of flooding along the Juba and Shabelle rivers and called for the evacuation of people living along the entire stretch of the Juba.
“The Somalia Disaster Management Agency is swiftly responding to the crisis, with plans to dispatch a flight to Dollow and transport two boats from Kismayo to Luuq and one to Baardhere to assist with evacuations,” Hassan Isse, the agency's managing director, told The Associated Press.
“The magnitude of the current floods is likely to deteriorate in the next few days due to the emergence of more water from upstream in the Ethiopian Highlands," Isse said.
The heavy rains follow four consecutive years of drought that pushed Somalia to the brink of famine.
Read: UN Security Council fails to agree on Israel-Hamas war as Gaza death toll passes 10,000
In neighboring Kenya, the Kenya Red Cross said the death toll had risen to 15 since the heavy rains began Friday, with the port city of Mombasa and the northeastern counties of Mandera and Wajir the worst affected.
As of Sunday, flash floods had destroyed 241 acres of farmland and killed 1,067 livestock, the Kenya Red Cross reported.
Weather forecasters in Kenya started warning in September that rains would be heavier than usual during the short rainy season between October and December.
President William Ruto contradicted the forecast, telling Kenyans that the experts had revised their advice and that “there would be no devastating El Nino flooding.”
Read: Israeli forces cut off north Gaza as Palestinian death toll from monthlong war passes 10,000
Heavy rains and flooding have also been reported in the Somali region of Ethiopia where thousands have been forced to flee their homes after houses and farmlands were destroyed by flood waters.
32 people die in multi-vehicle pileup on a highway in Egypt
A passenger bus slammed into a parked vehicle on a foggy Saturday morning on a highway linking the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least 32 people, authorities said.
The multi-car pileup, which set some vehicles ablaze, left at least 63 others injured, said the Health Ministry. Ambulances rushed to the scene of the crash on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road to transport the injured to nearby hospitals, it said.
Local media reported that the bus was on its way to Cairo when it hit the parked vehicle. Other cars slammed into the bus with some catching fire.
Footage circulating online showed many burned vehicles on the side of the road with firefighters extinguishing the fire. In one footage many vehicles were seen on fire with thick plumes of smoke billowing from them.
The state-run daily al-Ahram reported that 29 vehicles were part of the crash which took place at the town of Nubariya, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Cairo.
The Egyptian Meteorological Authority warned of heavy fog on highways a day earlier, according to local reports.
Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. The crashes and collisions are mostly caused by speeding, bad roads, or poor enforcement of traffic laws.
Niger's junta says jihadis kill 29 soldiers as attacks ramp up
At least 29 Nigerien soldiers have been killed by jihadis near the country’s border with Mali, Niger's junta said, as they struggle to end a spate of attacks.
More than 100 extremists used homemade explosives to target the West African nation's security forces who were deployed at the border area on a clearance operation, Niger Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Salifou Mody said in a statement late Monday. It's the second such attack against Nigerien soldiers in a week.
During the month after Niger’s military seized power, violence primarily linked to extremists soared by more than 40%, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. Jihadi attacks targeting civilians quadrupled in August compared with the month before, and attacks against security forces spiked in the Tillaberi region, killing at least 40 soldiers, the project reported.
Read: At least 103 wedding guests killed when boat capsizes in northern Nigeria
“This attack unfortunately caused the loss of several of our valiant soldiers,” Mody said Monday. “The provisional assessment of this attack is as follows: on the friendly side, 29 soldiers fell. … On the enemy side, several dozen terrorists were neutralized, fifteen motorcycles destroyed, a large quantity of weapons and ammunition seized.”
The junta, which took over power after a July coup against Niger’s democratically elected government, declared a three-day national mourning period for the dead.
It repeated claims made in the past that “destabilization operations” were being carried out by “certain foreign powers with the complicity of Nigerien traitors,” without further details or proof.
Read: Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu sworn in as president
Under growing pressure since the coup against Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, which the military said was carried out because of Niger’s security challenges, the junta promised that “all efforts will be made to guarantee the security of people and their property throughout the national territory.”
Niger has battled a jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group for years. And the junta’s capacity to improve Niger’s security has increasingly been questioned recently as attacks have increased since mutinous soldiers toppled in July.
Niger was seen as one of the last democratic countries in Africa’s Sahel region that Western nations could partner with to beat back the jihadi insurgency in the vast expanse below the Sahara Desert. The United States, France and other European countries poured hundreds of millions of dollars into shoring up the Nigerien military.
Read more: Death toll tops 80 after attack in north Nigeria; 7 suspects arrested
35 killed in petrol warehouse fire in Benin
At least 35 people were killed and more than ten seriously injured in a fire at a petrol warehouse on Saturday in Benin's southeastern department of Oueme, the Beninese Ministry of the Interior and Public Security reported.
The fire, breaking out in a town near the border with Nigeria, was probably started when bags of petrol were being unloaded from a vehicle at around 9:30 a.m. (0830 GMT), the ministry said in a statement.
Read: 5.3 mln people displaced by war in Sudan: OCHA
The fire engulfed the place, causing an initial toll of 35 deaths, "including one child, and more than a dozen serious injuries sent to hospital, as well as significant material damage," said the statement.
The fire brigade, police and medical teams were immediately mobilized to tackle the situation, said the statement, adding that the Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a full investigation into the cause of the accident.
In Benin, smuggled petrol comes from its eastern neighbor, Nigeria, a major oil producer where fuel is cheaper.
Read: Moroccans sleep in the streets for 3rd night following an earthquake that took more than 2,100 lives
Thousands of liters of petrol sold on the streets of Benin's towns and neighborhoods generally come from stations located along the Benin-Nigeria border.
The trade, which generates huge profits, also entails major risks, given the precarious conditions in which the product is stored. As a result, fires occur frequently with heavy tolls.
5.3 mln people displaced by war in Sudan: OCHA
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday said that some 5.3 million have fled from the war in Sudan since mid-April when the conflict broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Sudan violence likely to push over 1 million refugees out of the African country by October, UN says
"With fighting between the SAF and the RSF in its fifth month since April, some 5.3 million people have fled their homes and sought refuge in Sudan or neighbouring countries," OCHA said in its latest report on Friday.
"Within Sudan, more than 4.2 million people have been displaced to 3,929 locations across all 18 states as of September 19," it said.
110 million people forcibly displaced as Sudan, Ukraine wars add to world refugee crisis, UN says
Also, over 1 million people have crossed into neighbouring countries, including the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan, OCHA cited the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as saying.
It noted that the UN-led humanitarian appeal remains woefully underfunded, only at about 31 percent of what is needed.
"Donors should step up humanitarian funding for local and international organizations that are providing vital assistance in Sudan and neighbouring countries," according to the report.
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Sudan has been witnessing deadly clashes between the SAF and the RSF in Khartoum and other areas since April 15, resulting in at least 3,000 deaths and more than 6,000 injuries, according to figures released by the Sudanese Health Ministry.
For a divided Libya, disastrous floods have become a rallying cry for unity
Zahra el-Gerbi wasn't expecting much of a response to her online fundraiser, but she felt she had to do something after four of her relatives died in the flooding that decimated the eastern Libyan city of Derna. She put out a call for donations for those displaced by the deluge.
In the first half-hour after she shared it on Facebook, the Benghazi-based clinical nutritionist said friends and strangers were already promising financial and material support.
"It's for basic needs like clothes, foods and accommodation," el-Gerbi said.
For many Libyans, the collective grief over the more than 11,000 dead has morphed into a rallying cry for national unity in a country blighted by 12 years of conflict and division. In turn, the tragedy has ramped up pressure on the country's leading politicians, viewed by some as the architects of the catastrophe.
Also read: Searchers look for more than 10,000 missing in flooded Libyan city where death toll eclipsed 11,000
The oil-rich country has been divided between rival administrations since 2014, with an internationally recognized government in Tripoli and a rival authority in the east, where Derna is located. Both are backed by international patrons and armed militias whose influence in the country has ballooned since a NATO-backed Arab Spring uprising toppled autocratic ruler Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Numerous United Nations-led initiatives to bridge the divide have failed.
In the early hours of Sept. 11, two dams in the mountains above Derna burst, sending a wall of water two stories high into the city and sweeping entire neighborhoods out to sea. At least 11,300 people were killed and a further 30,000 displaced.
An outpouring of support for the people of Derna followed. Residents from the nearby cities of Benghazi and Tobruk offered to put up the displaced. In Tripoli, some 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) west, a hospital said it would perform operations free of charge for any injured in the flood.
Ali Khalifa, an oil rig worker from Zawiya, west of Tripoli, said his cousin and a group of other men from his neighborhood joined a convoy of vehicles heading to Derna to help out with relief efforts. Even the local scout squad participated, he said.
The sentiment was shared by 50-year-old Mohamed al-Harari.
"The wound or pain of what happened in Derna hurt all the people from western Libya to southern Libya to eastern Libya," he said.
The disaster has fostered rare instances of the opposing administrations cooperating to help those affected. As recently as 2020, the two sides were in an all-out war. Gen. Khalifa Hifter's forces besieged Tripoli in a yearlong failed military campaign to try to capture the capital, killing thousands.
Also read: Bangladesh hands over humanitarian aid to disaster-affected Libya
"We have even seen some military commanders arrive from the Tripoli allied military coalition in Derna, showing support," said Claudia Gazzini, a senior Libya analyst at International Crisis Group.
But the distribution of aid into the city has been highly disorganized, with minimal amounts of supplies reaching flood-affected areas in the days following the disaster.
Across the country, the disaster has also exposed the shortcomings of Libya's fractured political system.
While young people and volunteers rushed to help, "there was a kind of confusion between the governments in the east and west" on what to do, said Ibrahim al-Sunwisi, a local journalist from the capital, Tripoli.
Others have leveled blame for the burst dams on government officials.
A report by a state-run audit agency in 2021 said the two dams hadn't been maintained despite the allocation of more than $2 million for that purpose in 2012 and 2013. As the storm approached, authorities told people — including those in vulnerable areas — to stay indoors.
"Everyone in charge is responsible," said Noura el-Gerbi, a journalist and activist who was born in Derna and is also a cousin of el-Gerbi, who made the call for donations online. "The next flood will be over them."
Also read: Flooding death toll soars to 11,300 in Libya's coastal city of Derna, aid group says
The tragedy follows a long line of problems born from the country's lawlessness. Most recently, in August, sporadic fighting broke out between two rival militia forces in the capital, killing at least 45 people, a reminder of the influence rogue armed groups wield across Libya.
Under pressure, Libya's General Prosecutor al-Sediq al-Sour said Friday that prosecutors would open a file on the collapse of the two dams and investigate the authorities in the Derna, as well as past governments.
But the country's political leaders have so far deflected responsibility. The Prime Minister of Libya's Tripoli government, Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, said he and his ministers were accountable for the dams' maintenance, but not the thousands of deaths caused by the flooding.
Meanwhile, the speaker of Libya's eastern administration, Aguila Saleh, said the flooding was simply an incomparable natural disaster. "Don't say, 'If only we'd done this, if only we'd done that,'" said Saleh in a televised news conference.
When the rescue and recovery operation in Derna is done, other daunting tasks will lie ahead. It remains unclear how Libyan authorities will rehome much of its population, and rebuild.
El-Gerbi, who has since closed down the donations page to encourage people to give directly to the Red Crescent, said two of her uncles are on their way from Derna to Benghazi, with potentially tens of thousands of others making the same journey.
"They don't have work, know where to live, even what to eat," she said.
Flooding death toll soars to 11,300 in Libya's coastal city of Derna, aid group says
The death toll in Libya's coastal city of Derna has soared to 11,300 as search efforts continue following a massive flood fed by the breaching of two dams in heavy rains, the Libyan Red Crescent said Thursday.
Marie el-Drese, the aid group's secretary-general, told The Associated Press by phone that a further 10,100 people are reported missing in the Mediterranean city. Health authorities previously put the death toll in Derna at 5,500. The storm also killed about 170 people elsewhere in the country.
The flooding swept away entire families in Derna on Sunday night and exposed vulnerabilities in the oil-rich country that has been mired in conflict since a 2011 uprising that toppled long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Here's a look at where things stand:
WHAT HAPPENED IN LIBYA?
Daniel, an unusually strong Mediterranean storm, caused deadly flooding in communities across eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. As the storm pounded the coast Sunday night, residents said they heard loud explosions when two dams outside the city collapsed. Floodwaters gushed down Wadi Derna, a valley that cuts through the city, crashing through buildings and washing people out to sea.
A U.N. official said Thursday that most casualties could have been avoided.
“If there would have been a normal operating meteorological service, they could have issued the warnings," World Meteorological Organization head Petteri Taalas told reporters in Geneva. "The emergency management authorities would have been able to carry out the evacuation.”
The WMO said earlier this week that the National Meteorological Center issued warnings 72 hours before the flooding, notifying all governmental authorities by email and through media.
Officials in eastern Libya warned the public about the coming storm, and on Saturday, they ordered residents to evacuate coastal areas, fearing a surge from the sea. But there was no warning about the dams collapsing.
HOW DOES CONFLICT IN LIBYA AFFECT THE DISASTER?
The startling devastation reflected the storm’s intensity, but also Libya’s vulnerability. Oil-rich Libya has been divided between rival governments for most of the past decade — one in the east, the other in the capital, Tripoli — and one result has been the widespread neglect of infrastructure.
The two dams that collapsed outside Derna were built in the 1970s. A report by a state-run audit agency in 2021 said the dams had not been maintained despite the allocation of more than 2 million euros for that purpose in 2012 and 2013.
Libya's Tripoli-based prime minister, Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, acknowledged the maintenance issues during a Cabinet meeting Thursday and called on the Public Prosecutor to open an urgent investigation into the dams' collapse.
The disaster brought a rare moment of unity, as government agencies across the country rushed to help the affected areas.
While the Tobruk-based government of eastern Libya is leading relief efforts, the Tripoli-based western government allocated the equivalent of $412 million for reconstruction in Derna and other eastern towns, and an armed group in Tripoli sent a convoy with humanitarian aid.
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?
Derna has begun burying its dead, mostly in mass graves, said eastern Libya’s health minister, Othman Abduljaleel on Thursday.
More than 3,000 bodies were buried by Thursday morning, the minister said, while another 2,000 were still being processed, He said most of the dead were buried in mass graves outside Derna, while others were transferred to nearby towns and cities.
Read: Bangladesh sends humanitarian aid to flood-affected Libya
Abduljaleel said rescue teams were still searching wrecked buildings in the city center, and divers were combing the sea off Derna.
Untold numbers could be buried under drifts of mud and debris, including overturned cars and chunks of concrete, that rise up to 4 meters (13 feet) high. Rescuers have struggled to bring in heavy equipment as the floods washed out or blocked roads leading to the area.
Libya's eastern based parliament, The House of Representatives, on Thursday approved an emergency budget of 10 billion Libyan dinars — roughly $2 billion — to address the flooding and help those affected.
HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED?
As of Thursday, the Libyan Red Crescent said that 11,300 people have been killed, and a further 10,100 are reported missing.
However, local officials suggested that the death toll could be much higher than announced.
In comments to the Saudi-owned Al Arabia television station on Thursday, Derna Mayor Abdel-Moneim al-Ghaithi said the tally could climb to 20,000 given the number of neighborhoods that were washed out.
The storm also killed around 170 people in other parts of eastern Libya, including the towns of Bayda, Susa, Um Razaz and Marj, the health minister said.
Read: Devastation in Libya: Bangladesh PM expresses deep shock
The dead in eastern Libya included at least 84 Egyptians, whose remains were transferred to their home country on Wednesday. More than 70 came from one village in the southern province of Beni Suef. Libyan media also said dozens of Sudanese migrants were killed in the disaster.
IS HELP REACHING SURVIVORS?
The floods have displaced at least 30,000 people in Derna, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, and several thousand others were forced to leave their homes in other eastern towns, it said.
The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to Derna, hampering the arrival of international rescue teams and humanitarian assistance. Local authorities were able to clear some routes, and humanitarian convoys have been able to enter the city over the past couple of days.
The U.N. humanitarian office issued an emergency appeal for $71.4 million to respond to urgent needs of 250,000 Libyans most affected. The office, known as OCHA, estimated that approximately 884,000 people in five provinces live in areas directly affected by the rain and flooding.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it has provided 6,000 body bags to local authorities, as well as medical, food and other supplies distributed to hard-hit communities.
International aid started to arrive earlier this week in Benghazi, 250 kilometers (150 miles) west of Derna. Several countries have sent aid and rescue teams, including neighboring Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia. Italy dispatched a naval vessel on Thursday carrying humanitarian aid and two navy helicopters to be used for search and rescue operations.
Read more: 6 Bangladeshis killed in storm Daniel-hit areas in Libya
President Joe Biden said the United States would send money to relief organizations and coordinate with Libyan authorities and the United Nations to provide additional support.
Flooding in Libya leaves 2,000 people feared dead and more missing after storm collapsed dams
Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods in multiple coastal towns in the east of the North African nation. As many as 2,000 people were feared dead, one of the country's leaders said Monday.
The destruction appeared greatest in Derna, a city formerly held by Islamic extremists in the chaos that has gripped Libya for more than a decade and left it with crumbling and inadequate infrastructure. Libya remains divided between two rival administrations, one in the east and one in the west, each backed by militias and foreign governments.
The confirmed death toll from the weekend flooding stood at 61 as of late Monday, according to health authorities. But the tally did not include Derna, which had become inaccessible, and many of the thousands missing there were believed carried away by waters after two upstream dams burst.
Video by residents of the city posted online showed major devastation. Entire residential areas were erased along a river that runs down from the mountains through the city center. Multistory apartment buildings that once stood well back from the river were partially collapsed into the mud.
READ: Moroccans sleep in the streets for 3rd night following an earthquake that took more than 2,100 lives
In a phone interview with station Monday, Prime Minister Ossama Hamad of the east Libyan government said 2,000 were feared dead in Derna and thousands were believed missing. He said Derna has been declared a disaster zone.
Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for the country's armed forces based in the east, told a news conference that the death toll in Derna had surpassed 2,000. He said there were between 5,000 and 6,000 reported missing. Al-Mosmari attributed the catastrophe to the collapse of two nearby dams, causing a lethal flash flood.
Since a 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed long-time ruler Moammar Gadhafi, Libya has lacked a central government and the resulting lawlessness has meant dwindling investment in the country's roads and public services and also minimal regulation of private building. The country is now split between rival governments in the east and west, each backed by an array of militias.
Derna itself, along with the city of Sirte, was controlled by extremist groups for years, at one point by those who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, until forces loyal to the east-based government expelled them in 2018.
READ: In ancient cities and mountain towns, rescuers seek survivors from Morocco's quake of the century
At least 46 people were reported dead in the eastern town of Bayda, Abdel-Rahim Mazek, head of the town’s main medical center said. Another seven people were reported dead in the coastal town of Susa in northeastern Libya, according to the Ambulance and Emergency Authority. Seven others were reported dead in the towns of Shahatt and Omar al-Mokhtar, said Ossama Abduljaleel, health minister. One person was reported dead Sunday in the town of Marj.
The Libyan Red Crescent said three of its workers had died while helping families in Derna. Earlier, the group said it lost contact with one of its workers as he attempted to help a stuck family in Bayda. Dozens of others were reported missing, and authorities fear they could have died in the floods that destroyed homes and other properties in several towns in eastern Libya, according to local media.
In Derna, local media said the situation was catastrophic with no electricity or communications.
Essam Abu Zeriba, the interior minister of the east Libya government, said more than 5,000 people were expected to be missing in Derna. He said many of the victims were swept away towards the Mediterranean.
“The situation is tragic,” he declared in a telephone interview on the Saudi-owned satellite news channel Al-Arabiya. He urged urged local and international agencies to rush to help the city.
Georgette Gagnon, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Libya, said early reports showed that dozens of villages and towns were “severely affected ... with widespread flooding, damage to infrastructure, and loss of life.”
READ: Powerful quake in Morocco kills more than 2,000 people and damages historic buildings in Marrakech
“I am deeply saddened by the severe impact of (storm) Daniel on the country ... I call on all local, national, and international partners to join hands to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the people in eastern Libya,” she wrote on X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
In a post on X, the U.S. Embassy in Libya said it was in contact with both the U.N. and Libyan authorities and was determining how to deliver aid to the most affected areas.
Over the weekend, Libyans shared footage on social media showing flooded houses and roads in many areas across eastern Libya. They pleaded for help as floods besieged people inside their homes and in their vehicles.
Ossama Hamad, the prime minister of the east Libya government, declared Derna a disaster zone after heavy rainfall and floods destroyed much of the city which is located in the delta of the small Wadi Derna on Libya’s east coast. The prime minister also announced three days of mourning and ordered flags across the country to be lowered to half-staff.
Controlling eastern and western Libya, Cmdr. Khalifa Hifter deployed troops to help residents in Benghazi and other eastern towns. Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesperson for Hifter’s forces, said they lost contact with five troops who were helping besieged families in Bayda.
READ: Powerful quake in Morocco kills more than 1,000 people and damages historic buildings in Marrakech
Foreign governments sent messages of support on Monday evening. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, said his country would send humanitarian assistance and search-and-rescue teams to eastern Libya, according to the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency.
Turkey, which supports the country's Tripoli-based government in the west, also expressed condolences, along with neighboring Algeria and Egypt, and also Iraq.
Storm Daniel is expected to arrive in parts of west Egypt on Monday, and the country’s meteorological authorities warned about possible rain and bad weather.