Search and rescue workers from Malta arrived in the devastated Libyan city of Derna on Thursday morning as international aid slowly reaches the areas worst-hit by Storm Daniel. 

Civil Protection Department Director General Peter Paul Coleiro said that the team arrived at the Benghazi port on Wednesday night and then started an eight-hour drive to the devastated area as part of a convoy led by Libyan forces.

“You have to keep in mind that the infrastructure is severly damaged. This includes roads, so the convoy would have to travel around. We are also having difficulty communicating with the team due to the damage caused by the storm. We know they are well,” he said.

The team, which comprises civil protection workers and members of the armed forces, will help clean up the damage caused by unprecedented flooding that killed at least 2,300 people. 

Entire neighbourhoods have been washed away in the port city of Derna, where two dams burst. The flooding, caused by Storm Daniel on Sunday afternoon, shattered the coastal city, home to about 100,000 people, where multi-storey buildings on the riverbanks collapsed and houses and cars vanished in the raging waters.

While Libyan emergency services have reported the deaths of 2,300 people in Derna alone, a further 5,000 people are missing and a further 7,000 injured.

There has been a global effort to assist stricken Libya. Military transport aircraft from Middle Eastern and European nations, along with ships, have been ferrying emergency aid to the North African country already scarred by war.

The Maltese team before leaving Malta aboard the AFM patrol boat. Photo: Facebook

In response to the devastation, Malta sent a contingent of 73 officials to assist in the rescue operations.

The team consists of 12 AFM officers including a medical team and 31 members of the CPD. They are joined by another 30 soldiers who travelled on board the P61 patrol boat.