Libyan authorities scrambled to reach survivors and provide food, water and shelter to tens of thousands of people after a lethal storm that officials say likely killed thousands of people in the North African country’s east.
Bodies shrouded in blankets piled on the sidewalk outside a hospital in the city of Derna in eastern Libya, illustrating how the storm quickly overwhelmed Libya’s infrastructure and state institutions which have been eroded by years of war and political infighting.
“The number of dead may exceed 5,300, and the missing exceed 4,000,” said a high-ranking official in the government in eastern Libya, one of two rival administrations running the country.
“We began delivering rescue teams and restoring communications to the city, and we are working to restore electricity and transport food and medicine to the city,” the official said of the city of Derna.
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