LIBYA’s prosecutor general has ordered the arrest of eight officials as part of his inquiry into the recent flood disaster that killed thousands, his office said on Monday.
The flash flood, which witnesses likened to a tsunami, broke through two ageing dams on September 10 after a hurricane-strength storm lashed the area around Derna, a port city in Libya’s east.
The officials are suspected of “bad management” and negligence, among other offences, a statement from the prosecutor general’s office said, adding that seven of them served currently or previously in offices responsible for water resources and dam management.
“The mistakes that they made” and their “negligence in the matter of disaster prevention” contributed to the catastrophe, the statement charged.
Derna’s mayor Abdulmonem al-Ghaithi, sacked after the flood, is among the detainees.
Almost 3,900 people died in the disaster, according to the latest official toll, 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, vowing to deal firmly with those responsible.
According to his office, the investigation is focused on a dam maintenance contract reached between the Turkish firm and Libya’s water department.
The 2011 NATO-backed revolt toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, leading to more than a decade of start-stop conflict in the oil-rich country.
Libya is now divided between an internationally recognised Tripoli-based administration in the west — to which Sur belongs — and another in the flood-struck east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
