Jordanian family of six missing in Libya after floods

Authorities are trying to discover their fate, Foreign Ministry spokesman says

A rescuer walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Libyan city of Derna on Sunday. Reuters

Six members of a Jordanian family are missing in the Libyan city of Derna after the area was devastated by Storm Daniel, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Amman said on Sunday, in the first possible casualty among Jordanian nationals in the disaster.

A relative of the family had reported that their home had collapsed as a result of the flash flooding, which swept through the Mediterranean city, ministry spokesman Sinan Al Majali said.

"He affirmed that contact has been lost with them," Mr Al Majali said, without giving the name of the family or any other details.

He said the ministry is "liaising with the brotherly authorities in Libya to know the fate of the family".

Last week, the ministry said that all Jordanians in Libya were unharmed after the floods.

There were about 10,000 Jordanian expatriates in Libya before the country descended into civil war in 2014. Updated data is not available.

Last week, Jordan dispatched an 80-member airborne medical team to Libya to help deal with the aftermath of the storm

Survivors of the flooding are hopeful that the disaster can help unite the country, as the rescue mission shifts its focus to recovering bodies to prevent the spread of potentially fatal diseases

“Derna had to die for us to be reborn as a country and unify both east and west as one country,” said Mohammed Hassan, who survived the night when Storm Daniel wreaked havoc on several cities in Libya, mostly on the coastal city of Derna.