Libya’s attorney general has ordered the detention of eight current and former government officials pending an investigation into the collapse of two dams earlier this month that left thousands dead.
The two dams on the outskirts of the city of Derna (east) broke on September 11 after being overflowed by Storm Daniel, which brought heavy rains to eastern Libya.
Failures in both structures led to the flooding of about a quarter of the city, local authorities said, destroying entire neighborhoods and sweeping people into the sea.
Government authorities and aid agencies estimate that between 4,000 and 11,000 people died in the disaster. According to search teams, the bodies of many of the dead are still buried under rubble or in the Mediterranean Sea.
In a statement, Attorney General al-Sidiq al-Sour’s office said prosecutors heard on Sunday from seven former and current employees of the Water Resources Authority and the Dam Management Authority about allegations that mismanagement, negligence and mistakes contributed to the disaster .
The mayor of Derna, Abdel-Moneim al-Ghaithi, who was fired after the disaster, was also questioned, the statement said.
Prosecutors have ordered that the eight people be detained while the investigation continues, the statement said.
The dams were built in the 1970s by a Yugoslav construction company above Wadi Derna, a river valley that bisects the city.
A 2021 report by a state accounting agency stated that the two dams had not undergone any repairs, despite the allocation of more than $2 million (1.88 million euros) for this purpose in 2012 and 2013.
Two weeks after the disaster, local and international teams are still searching for bodies among the rubble and mud. They are also scouring the Mediterranean Sea near Derna, looking for bodies swept away by the flood.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about a third of Derna’s homes and infrastructure were damaged by the floods. Authorities evacuated people from the worst-hit part of the city, leaving only search teams and ambulances.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said more than 4,000 deaths have been recorded, including foreigners, but the previous death toll given by the head of the Libyan Red Crescent was 11,300. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says at least 9,000 people are still missing.
The storm affected other areas in eastern Libya, including the towns of Bayda, Susa, Marj and Shahatt. Tens of thousands of people were displaced in the region and housed in schools and other government buildings.
Source: DN
