At least 11,300 people are dead and another 10,100 are missing in the city alone Derna of eastern Libya, which was hit about a week ago by floods, a United Nations agency said, citing the Libyan Red Crescent.

“According to the Libyan Red Crescent, these unprecedented floods have killed an estimated 11,300 people and left another 10,100 missing in the city of Derna alone, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a situation update on the evening of Saturday.

The floods also killed at least 170 people in other locations in eastern Libya, according to OCHA figures.

“These numbers are expected to increase as search and rescue teams work tirelessly,” OCHA warned.

Storm Daniel, which hit Derna, a city of 100,000 inhabitants in eastern Libya, from Sunday night to Monday, caused two dams to break, causing huge volumes of water, tsunami-sized, to swallow everything in their path.

The Minister of Health of the government of eastern Libya, Othman Abdeljalil, published yesterday afternoon a tally that spoke of 3,252 dead. While in a statement issued earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) referred to 3,958 bodies that have been found and identified and “more than 9,000 people” who are still missing.

“The humanitarian situation remains particularly grim in Derna,” OCHA said, adding that the city continues to lack potable water and at least 55 children have been poisoned by drinking contaminated water.

From the ruins of houses in districts hit by torrents and from the sea, bodies are retrieved daily, which are buried against the background of the scene of destruction.

According to the testimonies of residents, most of the victims were buried under the mud or drifted towards the Mediterranean.

Members of a rescue team from Malta, helping Libyans at sea, reported finding hundreds of bodies in the bay, without specifying where exactly, according to a report in the Times of Malta newspaper.

There were “probably 400, but it’s hard to say” exactly how many, Maltese team leader Natalino Bezzina said, noting that access to the bay was difficult due to strong winds. He added that his team was nevertheless able to help retrieve dozens of victims.

A Libyan search and rescue team with the Zodiac said it found “possibly 600 bodies” in the sea off the Om al-Briket area, some 20 kilometers east of Derna, according to a video uploaded to social networking sites. He did not specify whether these were the same bodies reported by the Maltese team.

Difficult investigations

Other Libyan and foreign search and rescue teams are reporting daily that they have found victims, but the search is hampered by the tons of mud and debris that covered part of the city.

In most cases the teams are forced to use shovels to clear the areas where they are operating, before searching for victims in damaged buildings.

The work of search and rescue teams is also hampered by political chaos in the north African state.

After the uprising, the overthrow of the regime and the death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, in Libya there are two rival governments, one in Tripoli (west), recognized by the UN and headed by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbayba, the other in the east, linked to the powerful Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

Authorities say they have begun the complicated process of identifying and recording the victims — many of whom were hastily buried in the first days after the disaster.

In addition, Othman Abdeljalil denied the information about a possible evacuation of the city, saying that only “certain zones” can remain “isolated”, to facilitate the work of rescue teams.

He added that his services, in coordination with the WHO, will “intensify efforts in the field of social and psychological assistance”.

Water samples are collected and analyzed daily to avoid potential contamination and the risk of outbreaks, the minister added, urging residents not to use water from wells.

The international mobilization continues. Aid planes continue to land at Benina airport in Benina, a major city in Cyrenaica, where search, rescue and relief teams from international organizations and states are also arriving.