They worked for years in Libya. Now an Egyptian village mourns scores of its men killed in flooding
An Egyptian village is mourning dozens of its men killed in the horrific floodwaters that tore through the city of Derna in neighboring Libya
NAZLET EL-SHARIF, Egypt — The 42-year-old Egyptian farmer was watering his crops along the Nile River south of the capital of Cairo and scrolling on his mobile phone when he learned that two of his sons were dead.
Ashraf Sadawy Abdel-Fattah saw a list on social media with names of Egyptians killed in the horrific flooding that tore through the city of Derna in neighboring Libya on Sunday night.
His second-eldest son, Mohamed, 23, and Abdel-Rahman, who was 19, were on the list, along with six relatives and scores of other men from their village.
“It’s a great shock for the family, but also for the entire village,” Abdel-Fattah said, speaking to The Associated Press on Thursday outside his home in Nazlet el-Sharif, a village in the province of Beni Sueif.
At least 74 men from the village, some as young as 17, were killed when Mediterranean storm Daniel unleashed heavy rainfall on Derna on Sunday night. Two dams in the mountains above the city burst, sending a wall of water two stories high that wreaked destruction and swept entire neighborhoods out to sea.
The deluge proved deadly for thousands in just seconds, uprooting apartment buildings and washing away roads and bridges. More than 11,300 people were reported killed, according to the Libyan Red Crescent — including scores of Egyptians who had lived and worked in Derna for years.
Days later, searchers are digging through mud and hollowed-out buildings in Derna for 10,000 people missing and feared dead.
“It was like hell,” said Rashad Ezzat Abdel-Hamid, a 45-year-old Egyptian who survived the disaster. He said he and seven other
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