Audio By Carbonatix
Migrants make up about 10% of those known to have died when floods hit Libya a week ago, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has told BBC News.
Libya is hugely popular with migrants. According to data from the IOM, which is a United Nations body, over 706,000 migrants lived in the North African country in February 2023.
Some live and work in Libya long-term, while others use it as a transit point in bids to reach Europe.
Four-hundred migrants are registered as having died in the floods, the IOM understands, although it says that this death toll is likely to change as bodies continue to be recovered.
The IOM and World Health Organization have the wider confirmed death toll at 3,900. However, officials using different methodologies have given widely varying statistics, for example, the mayor of Libyan city Derna estimates more than 20,000 people died.
Derna was, by far, hit hardest by the floods. Two dams burst amid heavy rains and swathes of the city were submerged in water.
Around 10,000 migrants lived in the port city before the flood, and the IOM "expects the death toll of migrants to be particularly high, considering they were settled in very low-lying areas," IOM director of emergencies, Federico Soda, said.
Latest Stories
-
Failure is part of Success — Peter Debrah encourages resilience among Students
2 hours -
Is the IMF Complicit in Bank of Ghana’s Massive 2025 Losses? – IERPP
3 hours -
Scaling Together: Prudential Bank MD’s advice on fintech‑bank partnerships in Africa
4 hours -
Joe Mettle inspires hope with new song ‘This Year’
4 hours -
Antisemitism ‘allowed to come into the open’ says Bondi victim’s daughter
5 hours -
What Is Wrong with Us? Why do we Reject Colonialism yet Cling to its Titles?
5 hours -
World Bank pushes regional health strategy to close financing gaps in West and Central Africa
5 hours -
Britney Spears pleads guilty to reckless driving after arrest
5 hours -
Parentage, not paternity: Ghana’s proposed compulsory paternity testing bill sparks fears of discrimination against mothers
5 hours -
Samsung family pays off record $8bn inheritance tax bill
5 hours -
Spain seizes record amount of cocaine in Atlantic Ocean, authorities say
5 hours -
Two killed and many injured after car driven into crowd in German city of Leipzig
5 hours -
KiDi drops ‘Signature’ with Lasmid ahead of album release
5 hours -
UAE accuses Iran of renewed drone and missile attacks
5 hours -
Giuliani recovering from pneumonia and ‘now breathing on his own’
6 hours