The first group of rescuers from the Russian Emergencies Ministry (EMERCOM) has returned to Russia from Libya, where they were deployed to assist in the aftermath of Cyclone Daniel. According to the EMERCOM press service, the group arrived at Zhukovsky Airport on September 26.
During their mission, which lasted for 10 days, Russian rescuers worked around the clock to mitigate the effects of Cyclone Daniel. They dismantled nearly 2,000 cubic meters of building structures and debris. Their efforts included searching for victims over 610,000 square meters of territory and 108 kilometers of coastline. In total, they recovered and evacuated 153 victims, with 140 of them being in hard-to-reach areas.
Diving teams from EMERCOM conducted 47 dives in the waters of the port of Derna. They identified 49 potentially flooded objects using echo sounders and raised 17 watercraft and vehicles to the surface, surveying a total of 33,000 square meters of water area.
Medical assistance was provided to more than 670 victims, including 67 children, by doctors from the Tsentrospas mobile field hospital. The Russian Emergencies Ministry deployed a team of 100 specialists, including rescuers, divers, medics, psychologists, and canine units, along with unmanned aircraft systems.
Cyclone Daniel struck northeastern Libya on September 10, causing severe damage to cities along the Mediterranean coast. Derna was particularly hard-hit, with the destruction of two dams contributing to numerous casualties. The latest figures from the Libyan Ministry of Health report over 3,800 deaths in Derna as a result of the disaster. The United Nations had earlier estimated more than 11,000 flood victims. The head of the Derna municipality anticipated that the death toll could rise to as many as 20,000 due to the disaster's impact.
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Based on materials from TASS