Thousands are feared dead and thousands more are missing in flood-ravaged eastern Libya

Entire communities were swept out to sea in flood-ravaged eastern Libya, with the city of Derna worst hit.

Transcript

00:00 A calamity of epic proportions, words used to describe the aftermath of Storm Daniel,

00:07 which hit eastern Libya and the port city of Derna, where two dams burst over the weekend.

00:13 Emergency workers have uncovered hundreds of bodies in the wreckage, and it's feared

00:17 the toll could spiral with 10,000 people reported still missing.

00:22 The death toll in Derna alone is thought to exceed 5,300.

00:27 Libya's neighborhoods have been washed away, with many bodies swept out to sea.

00:32 "Unfortunately, half of our Arabs, or maybe 90% of our Arabs, have lost their entire families,

00:39 their entire families, their entire cousins, their entire cousins, their entire children.

00:44 It's a mass extermination."

00:46 "We have even reached the point of burying a group of people.

00:50 We are now in the hospital alone, in the area, and we are about to bury a group of women,

00:58 children and men."

01:01 Some aid has started to arrive, including from Egypt, but rescue efforts have been hampered

01:06 by the political situation in Libya, with the country split between two rival governments.

01:11 An investigation has been launched into why the floods triggered by the storm were able

01:15 to cause such devastation.

01:18 Failure to rebuild properly and maintain infrastructure, including the dams, after years of political

01:23 conflict is partly to blame for the feared high death toll.

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