On Monday, Libya’s Public Prosecution issued arrest orders for several officials in connection with the flash flood that caused extensive damage to the Libyan port city of Derna two weeks ago, resulting in the loss of many lives.
In a statement the Public Prosecutor’s Office said it was decided to detain 16 officials responsible for managing the country’s dam facilities, 6 officials from the Water Resources Authority, and the Derna mayor “for deviating from the obligations of the mandate of managing funds allocated for the reconstruction and development of the city.”
The official death toll keeps rising, passing 3,800 on Saturday from a flash flood that broke through two ageing dams upstream from Derna.
A wall of water swept through the area on Sept. 10, washing thousands of people into the sea.
According to the statement, investigators finished conducting the initial interrogations and recommended detaining the responsible in pre-trial detention.
They went on to request the necessary investigation into the rest of those responsible for the Derna flood incident.