Libya’s Prosecutor General Initiates Arrest of Eight Officials in Probe of Recent Deadly Flood
On Monday, Libya’s prosecutor general took action to arrest eight officials as part of the ongoing investigation into the catastrophic flood event that claimed the lives of thousands, according to an announcement from his office.
The flash flood, described by witnesses as akin to a tsunami, occurred on September 10 when two aging dams were breached following a storm of hurricane strength in the vicinity of Derna, a coastal city in eastern Libya.
The officials are suspected of “bad management” and negligence, a statement from the prosecutor general’s office said, adding that they served currently or previously in offices responsible for water resources and dam management.
On Saturday the official death toll passed 3,800, and international aid groups have said 10,000 or more people may be missing.
After opening a probe, Libya’s prosecutor general Al-Seddik al-Sur said more than a week ago that the two dams upstream from Derna had been cracked since 1998.
But repairs begun by a Turkish company in 2010 were suspended after a few months when Libya’s 2011 revolution flared, and the work never resumed, the prosecutor said on September 16, vowing to deal firmly with those responsible.
The 2011 NATO-backed revolt toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, leading to more than a decade of start-stop conflict.
Libya is now divided between an internationally-recognized Tripoli-based administration in the west — to which Sur belongs — and another in the flood-struck east.
Eastern forces years ago launched a failed assault on the capital which ended in a 2020 ceasefire.
Since then a period of relative stability has held and allowed war-ravaged Libya to try to rebuild.
