Death toll in Libya flooding could reach thousands - IFRC official

"The death toll is huge and might reach thousands," Tamer Ramadan, head of the IFRC delegation in Libya, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Tunisia. Ramadan, who said that the IFRC could soon launch an appeal for emergency funding to support Libya's flood victims, added that 10,000 people were thought to be missing.

The number of dead in floods in Libya could reach thousands, an official from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Tuesday.

Officials in the administration that runs the eastern part of the divided country said on Monday that at least 2,000 people had been killed by the floods, though it was not immediately clear what that estimate was based on. "The death toll is huge and might reach thousands," Tamer Ramadan, head of the IFRC delegation in Libya, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Tunisia.

Ramadan, who said that the IFRC could soon launch an appeal for emergency funding to support Libya's flood victims, added that 10,000 people were thought to be missing. "The challenges are ranging between access to basic health facilities for health services, shelter and shelter management, food and non-food items," he said.