Since early morning today (Wednesday), 87 bodies of Egyptians killed as a result of the storm “Daniel” that hit eastern Libya have arrived in several Egyptian governorates to begin burial procedures.

According to the Egyptian Ministry of Immigration, today (Wednesday), “The Egyptian Army returned 87 bodies of civilians who died in Libya due to Storm Daniel and were sent to their respective governorates for burial. their final resting place.”

There are large numbers of Egyptian workers in Libya who usually cross land borders to the east. Where most of the areas affected by the storm are located.

While the Egyptian Foreign Ministry confirmed in an official statement that progress was continuing to recover all the bodies of the Egyptian victims, “The International Organization for Migration said at least 250 Egyptians were killed as a result of Daniel. .” Meanwhile, the General Administration of Coast Guard in the Libyan city of Tobruk posted on its official Facebook page yesterday (Tuesday) that the bodies of 145 Egyptians were arriving at the city’s morgue.

Affected villages

Beni Suf governorate (south of Cairo) in particular was shrouded in black, and people’s screams became louder, after the governorate lost 74 youths, including 68 from the village of “Al-Sharif”, while the villages of Adman, Arou and Fazara lost the rest of the victims.

According to the accounts of the people of the governorate’s villages up to Asharq al-Awsad, the sounds of crying and wailing came from a house in the village of “al-Sharif” and it was later clarified that six youths from one. The family is deceased, including three brothers, Ahmad, Muhammad and Abdul Rahman.

Their mother, Mrs. Fatimah Abdel Karim, could not be spoken to due to her health, but relatives’ accounts confirmed that she traveled to Libya a year ago to help their family in light of the weak. Job opportunities there.

Disaster situation

Dr. Karim Eid, a relative of the victims, described the situation in the village, describing the incident as “catastrophic” as most of the dead were relatives, including siblings. : “We learned about the disappearance of my relatives in the early hours of Tuesday through the villagers they traveled with, who were in contact with their families as usual before the disaster.” He said the majority of the victims were between the ages of 18 and 25 and had recently traveled in search of life, especially since others from the village had preceded them in Libya. Difficulties in identifying corpses suggest that there are still more bodies that have not yet arrived in Egypt, as a result of the devastation caused by the typhoon and the altered features of the victims. His relatives in Libya.

Sari Abdul Latif told Asharq Al-Awsad that the last contact between the family and the victims was on Monday, after four bodies, including two of his grandchildren and two cousins, were buried in the graves of the affected village. , and in this regard he said: “They spoke to us hours ago and promised us.” From the storm that took their lives at dawn, it seemed to drag them while they were sleeping ( known by eyewitnesses. ), but we don’t expect this to be the last talk.

Abdel Latif added that while burying the 68 bodies that arrived in Egypt this morning, the village learned that 15 of their relatives had died in Derna. For burial, we are not looking for their money or belongings.” ».

Although the devastation was relatively mild in the center of al-Hamoul in Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate (northern Egypt), the villagers of al-Jaffran poured into the streets upon news of the two deaths. Ala and Muhammad are brothers from the village.

Issam Al-Qassif, head of Al-Hamoul city, explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that the two bodies have not yet arrived in Egypt, but the families confirmed that the two youths were killed in eastern Libya. Al-Qassif said in this regard: Many young people from Al-Jafran village have gone to work in Libya. However, apart from the two victims, we do not have the names of the deceased and we are coordinating with the authorities concerned. Check the rest.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi expressed his condolences to the families of the Egyptians and ordered “urgent aid” to be provided to their families.