Flood fallout Missing migrants' families still wait for news

Relatives fear they may never know what happened to their undocumented loved ones in Derna when Storm Daniel hit

- Hendia Alashepy

It has been more than two months since Storm Daniel unleashed devastating floods in eastern Libya, wiping out swathes of the coastal city of Derna, where Palestinian Lu’ay Afifi, his wife and two daughters lived. In Benghazi, 300km to the west, his 60-year-old sister, Sana’a, has no clue what happened to them.

“I have faith that my brother and his family survived this catastrophe,” said Sana’a, but her voice lacks conviction.

She has nothing to back her gut feeling. As the days go by with no word from them, Sana’a is consumed by fear that they were among the thousands killed by the storm, when the collapse of two ageing dams caused devastating floods in Derna.

“My husband and son went to Lu’ay’s home and there was nothing left of it. I’ve put their names on a list compiled by a committee in the Palestinian consulate in Benghazi dedicated to chasing those missing. Otherwise, I don’t know what else to do,” she said. Because Lu’ay worked as an independent construction worker, there isn’t an employer she can ask for help.

Despite the many years of violence and political instability that have divided the country between two governments and pushed Libya deep into chaos, the oil-rich north African nation has remained a popular destination for immigrants who either come for better living conditions, or in the hope of crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe.