CAIRO –
Libya’s chief prosecutor mentioned Monday he ordered the detention of eight present and former officers pending his investigation into the collapse of two dams earlier this month, a catastrophe that despatched a wall of water a number of meters excessive by way of the middle of a coastal metropolis and left hundreds of individuals lifeless.
The 2 dams outdoors the town of Derna broke up on Sep. 11 after they have been overwhelmed by Storm Daniel, which precipitated heavy rain throughout jap Libya. The failure of the buildings inundated as a lot as 1 / 4 of the town, officers have mentioned, destroying complete neighbourhoods and sweeping folks out to sea.
Authorities officers and help companies have given estimated dying tolls starting from greater than 4,000 to over 11,000. The our bodies of most of the folks killed nonetheless are underneath rubble or within the Mediterranean, in response to search groups.
An announcement by the workplace of Normal Prosecutor al-Sidiq al-Bitter mentioned prosecutors on Sunday questioned seven former and present officers with the Water Sources Authority and the Dams Administration Authority over allegations that mismanagement, negligence and errors contributed to the catastrophe.
Derna Mayor Abdel-Moneim al-Ghaithi, who was sacked after the catastrophe, was additionally questioned, the assertion mentioned.
Prosecutors ordered the eight to be jailed pending the investigation, the assertion added.
The dams have been constructed by a Yugoslav development firm within the Nineteen Seventies above Wadi Derna, a river valley which divides the town. They have been meant to guard the town from flash floods, which aren’t unusual within the space. The dams weren’t maintained for many years, regardless of warnings by scientists that they could burst.
A report by a state-run audit company in 2021 mentioned the 2 dams hadn’t been maintained regardless of the allocation of greater than $2 million for that objective in 2012 and 2013.
A Turkish agency was contracted in 2007 to hold out upkeep on the 2 dams and to construct a 3rd one in between them. The agency, Arsel Development Firm Ltd., mentioned on its web site that it accomplished its work in November 2012. It did not reply to an electronic mail looking for additional remark.
Two weeks on, native and worldwide groups have been nonetheless digging by way of mud and hollowed-out buildings, searching for our bodies. In addition they combing the Mediterranean off Derna, looking for boding swept away within the floods.
The floods have left as many as a 3rd of Derna’s housing and infrastructure broken, in response to the U.N.’s Workplace for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA. Authorities have evacuated essentially the most impacted a part of the town, leaving solely search and ambulance groups, OCHA mentioned.
The World Well being Group says greater than 4,000 deaths have been registered lifeless, together with foreigners, however a earlier dying toll given by the pinnacle of Libya’s Pink Crescent was at 11,300. The U.N. Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says a minimum of 9,000 individuals are nonetheless lacking.
The storm hit different areas in jap Libya, together with the cities of Bayda, Susa, Marj and Shahatt. Tens of hundreds of individuals have been displaced within the area and took shelter in faculties and different authorities buildings.
The questioning and jailing of officers have been a primary essential step by the chief prosecutor in his investigation which is prone to face daunting challenges because of the nation’s yearslong division.
Since 2014, jap Libya has been underneath the management of Gen. Khalifa Hifter and his self-styled Libyan Nationwide Military. A rival authorities, based mostly within the capital, Tripoli, controls most nationwide funds and oversees infrastructure initiatives. Neither tolerates dissent.
The Supreme Council of State, an advisory physique based mostly in Tripoli, has known as for a “thorough worldwide investigation,” echoing a name by many residents throughout Libya. Such name mirrors the deep distrust in state establishments.
