TRIPOLI, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Osama Hammad, the eastern-based prime minister of Libya, said on Monday that more than 2,000 people were killed and thousands of others went missing after floods hit eastern Libya on Sunday.
Speaking to a local TV channel, Hammad said most of the casualties were reported in the port city of Derna, where "the entire neighborhoods were swept away by floods."
He called on medical personnel and rescue teams nationwide to provide assistance to the hard-hit city, while the eastern-based Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Gatrani has appealed for international aid through a local TV channel.
Local authorities have declared three days of mourning for the victims.
The Mediterranean storm made landfall in eastern Libya on Sunday, triggering flooding and destroying facilities along its path.
Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah, the prime minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity on Sunday instructed relevant authorities to remain on high alert and take measures to deal with the storm, vowing to "protect the people and ease the damage."
The Ministry of Social Affairs and the Libyan Red Crescent Society have started to offer urgent assistance to those affected by the disaster.
The oil-rich country has been divided for years between rival administrations in the east and west. Each administration is backed by armed groups and militias.
