DERNA, Libya -- At least 2,300 people were killed in catastrophic floods that tore through the Libyan city of Derna, the emergency services said Tuesday, but a far higher death toll is feared.
As global concern spread, multiple nations offered to urgently send aid and rescue teams to help the war-scarred country that has been overwhelmed by what one UN official labelled"a calamity of epic proportions".
But officials from the rival government in eastern Libya said"thousands" more perished in the floods in Derna and that the death toll could surpass 10,000. "The death toll is huge and might reach thousands," said Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, adding 10,000 people were missing.
More than 300 victims were buried Monday -- but vastly greater numbers were feared lost in the river that empties into the Mediterranean. Oil-rich Libya is still recovering from the years of war and chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed popular uprising which toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
A Derna city council official described the situation as"catastrophic" and asked for"national and international intervention".Libya's UN-backed government under Abdelhamid Dbeibah announced three days of national mourning on Monday and emphasised"the unity of all Libyans".
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