2023-09-18 18:07:04
Libya hosts a large Syrian community, and is the main starting point for migrants from Syria and from several countries who sail on rickety and overcrowded boats towards Europe.
Director of the Syrian Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, reported that 112 dead and more than 100 missing people have been identified so far, at a time when the chances of finding survivors are declining as a result of the floods that struck Derna on September 10, claiming the lives of 3,300 people, while thousands are still missing.
Khaled Ali (37 years old) from Derna told AFP by phone, “I lost two of my brothers’ children, Hani Abdel Hamid Ali and Mahmoud Faisal Ali, their wives and their six children,” the youngest of whom was only six months old.
The man, who hails from Daraa Governorate in southern Syria, added, “The floods swept away their house, and nothing remained of it,” noting that he identified the bodies of the two young men following they were reported on social media.
Three years ago, the two young men, Hani and Mahmoud, and other family members, including Khaled, moved to Libya in search of a source of livelihood with the beginning of the economic collapse in Lebanon, where they had sought refuge to escape the difficult living conditions resulting from the ongoing conflict in Syria since 2011.
“We fled from crisis to crisis,” said Khaled, who works with the rest of the family in the construction field. “But this is the way it is. This is our lot.”
In Damascus, the Qalaji and Al-Khatib families received condolences from eight individuals: the father, Muhammad Qalaji, his wife, Rana Al-Khatib, and their six children.
Ibrahim Qalaji (46 years old), Muhammad’s brother, told Agence France-Presse, “We were in contact with them three hours before the floods, and they told us that the rain was heavy (…) Then communication was completely cut off,” explaining, “We later learned from one of the doctors that my brother and his wife… “They died, but there is no trace of the rest of the family.”
He added, “We surrendered our affairs to God. They lived in estrangement and died in estrangement.”
While Muhammad, who moved to Libya in 2000 and worked in a car repair shop, died, his brother Shadi “miraculously survived following grabbing the minaret of a mosque and people were bumping into him from all sides,” Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim added, “My brother, Al-Naji, is there today. He does not have any paper proving his identity, and he is left without a past, present, or future.”
© 2023 AFP
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