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By Aoife Walsh
BBC News
The two rival governments in Libya are co-ordinating relief efforts for flood victims, the UN has said.
More than 5,300 people died after two dam bursts brought devastating floods to the eastern city of Derna.
Derna's mayor, Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi said that number could reach as high as 20,000, based on the extent of the area of the city that was destroyed.
Another official from Tobruk-based eastern government said the sea was "constantly dumping dozens of bodies".
"The estimated the number of deaths in the city could reach between 18,000 to 20,000, based on the number of buildings in the districts destroyed by the flood," Mr Ghaithi told the Saudi-owned television station Al Arabiya.
At least 10,000 people are missing and tens of thousands more have been displaced.
Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the administration that runs eastern Libya, told Reuters that the number of casualties could increase significantly as the "sea is constantly dumping dozens of bodies".
Officials have asked for more international help.
A UN official said that both the eastern and western governments had requested international aid and were talking to each other.
"Both governments have reached out to the international community requesting services and help," Tauhid Pasha, of the International Organisation for Migration, told BBC Radio 4's the World Tonight programme.
"The Government of National Unity [western government] has extended its support to us and its request on behalf of the entire country and they are also co-ordinating with the government in the east," he said.
"The challenge now is the international community responding accordingly to the needs and the requests of the governments," he added.
Mr Pasha said support needed to be scaled up "very, very quickly and to do so we need money".
It split between the two rival administrations based in the capital Tripoli in the west and Tobruk in the east.
The country remains mired in conflict between numerous militias.
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah leads the UN-backed Government of National Unity in Tripoli.
Osama Hamad, the prime minister in the east, leads the rival House of Representatives.
However, many feel power there is really held by Gen Khalifa Haftar, who leads the Libyan National Army,
Gen Haftar received an Egyptian military delegation which came to offer aid and support after the disaster.
Reuters
EPA
UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Volker Turk stressed that all political groups had to work together in the aftermath of the floods.
"This is a time for unity of purpose," he said.
"All those affected must receive support without regard for any affiliations. It is important that particular care is taken to ensure protection of groups in vulnerable situations who are rendered even more at risk in the aftermath of such a disaster."
Abdulkader Assad, political editor of the Libya Observer, said having an internationally recognised government in the west rivalled by another government in the east had hindered rescue efforts.
"We all know that Libya has been split between two governments for the last decade at least and we haven't actually felt the impact of this division because the presence of two governments was all about vying for power and taking control of the country and parts of the country," he said.
"But now that some of the cities are experiencing this natural disaster, this calamity, we could see that the lack of a unified centralised government is actually affecting the lives of people."
Libyan rescue teams searching for survivors in Derna are being supported on the ground by:
Search and rescue teams from Egypt and Tunisia
More than 160 personnel from Turkey
Firefighters from Italy and Spain
Tommaso Della Longa, spokesman for the president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said time to find survivors was running out.
"We know that unfortunately this window will close in the next hours but hope is still there," he said.
Libyan Red Crescent teams in the field, he said, described the disaster as like "a bombardment and earthquake... happening at the same time".
"What they are telling us are really stories of entire areas of the city are not any more there, villages that are completely destroyed and thousands of families that at the moment really need everything," Mr Della Longa added.
Getty Images
Usama Al Husadi, 52, has been searching for his wife and five children since the catastrophic flood hit.
"I went by foot searching for them... I went to all hospitals and schools but no luck," he told Reuters news agency as he wept with his head in his hands.
"We lost at least 50 members from my father's family, between missing and dead," he said.
The bodies of more than 80 Egyptian migrants killed in the flood were returned to Egypt, the country's emigration ministry said, and were buried in their respective towns.
North Korea's Kim Jong Un is continuing his highly scrutinised visit to Russia, following talks with Vladimir Putin over a suspected arms deal.
The pair met on Wednesday at the Vostochny space centre after Mr Kim arrived in his private armoured train.
Mr Putin later said they discussed "possibilities" for military cooperation, and indicated he would help Pyongyang develop satellites.
The US says Moscow is attempting to buy weapons to support its war on Ukraine.
It has warned that any help Moscow gives to Pyongyang's satellite programme would violate UN Security Council resolutions.
Mr Putin has also accepted an invitation from Mr Kim to visit North Korea. Few heads of state have visited the closed off state.
Wednesday's meeting between the two sanctioned regimes, which included senior officials from both sides, took place at a time when their relations with the West are at an all-time low.
Mr Kim was warmly received by Mr Putin after travelling for two days to Russia's far east. Russian state media footage showed the two leaders grinning as they shook hands, before Mr Putin personally escorted Mr Kim around the space centre.
Citing historical ties between the Soviet Union and North Korea, Mr Putin welcomed his counterpart with the Russian proverb "an old friend is better than two new ones".
Asked if Russia would help North Korea build satellites, Mr Putin said "this is why we've come to Vostochny Cosmodrome", Russian media reported.
Mr Putin also said they would "discuss all topics" when asked if he would talk to Mr Kim about a weapons deal.
Meanwhile, Mr Kim appeared to express support for Mr Putin's war in Ukraine.
"Russia has risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security against the hegemonic forces" of the West, Mr Kim told Mr Putin.
"We will always support the decisions of President Putin and the Russian leadership... and we will be together in the fight against imperialism."
The North Korean leader is expected to oversee a display of Russian warships later, as well as visit several factories and stop by the eastern city of Vladivostok on his way home. It is not known how long he will stay in Russia.
KCNA/Reuters
Earlier this year North Korea twice tried, and failed, to launch a spy satellite. Pyongyang has vowed to develop one to boost military surveillance.
But the US believes North Korea's satellite programme is also aimed at boosting its ballistic missile capabilities, as the technology is similar.
On Wednesday US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, in response to reporters' queries, agreed there was a concern that Russian help with satellite technology would actively improve the North Korean missile programme.
"That is quite troubling and would potentially be in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions" which Russia itself had voted for in the past, he said.
Mr Putin appeared to acknowledge this on Wednesday, saying there were "there are certain limitations" to military co-operation.
The US has also warned that it would "not hesitate to take action to hold those accountable if necessary", to which the Kremlin had responded that the interests of Russia and North Korea were important to them "and not warnings from Washington".
The meeting marked Mr Kim's first trip abroad since 2019. The last time he travelled outside North Korea was also to meet Mr Putin after the collapse of North Korea's nuclear disarmament talks with then US president Donald Trump.
Many had expected him to head to Vladivostok where Mr Putin was attending an economic forum, but instead the train chugged northwards to Vostochny. On Wednesday morning, as Mr Kim neared his destination, North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast, the latest in a series of banned weapons tests.
Mr Kim and Mr Putin's meeting follows a Russian delegation's visit to North Korea in July, where Mr Kim showed off Pyongyang's missiles, including the Hwasong intercontinental ballistic missile, to defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
Moscow would be keen on North Korean arms due to their compatibility with Russian weapon systems, say experts.
They would be particularly eager for artillery shells and guns as artillery is "the god Russia worships" on the battlefront, said Valeriy Akimenko, an expert on Russia's military with the Conflict Studies Research Centre.
Pyongyang would likely oblige in providing these as well as bullets and "even older types of missiles", said Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asian Institute for Policy Studies, said it is also possible that newer weapons such as short-range ballistic missiles could be supplied, such as the so-called "super-large" rocket KN-25.
Some analysts believe North Korea could have a large stockpile of arms as it has not fought a war since the Korean War ended in armistice in 1953, though others think Pyongyang may be reluctant to hand over too much given their relative lack of resources.
But observers also say that North Korean weapons would only give a short-term boost to Russia's war effort. They point to how Moscow, with hugely depleted ammunition, is relying on older, more unreliable artillery shell stocks.
North Korea's arms could act "as a stop-gap measure" while Russia struggles to ramp up production, noted Mr Akimenko.
But given how fast Russia has been going through its supplies, the deal would not have much impact strategically. "It would kill more Ukrainians. But it will not kill Ukraine," he added.
In return, Mr Kim is thought to be asking for food aid for his impoverished country.
North Korea, which has long struggled under sanctions, has been especially hit hard by border closures during Covid which it has only recently started relaxing.
It may also ask for more advanced submarine and ballistic technology from Russia - though Mr Putin may draw a line at that, say some observers.
"Even a desperate war machine does not trade its military crown jewels for old, dumb munitions," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
A deeper question posed by the meeting is whether heavy sanctions on Russia and North Korea are really working.
Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said their meeting showed that international sanctions have created a "firewall" where the two countries "can transact business without fear of further punishment".
"The more states under severe sanction are pushed together, the less the US can do to use sanctions as leverage to resolve the underlying conflicts."
But the situation is also not without risk for Pyongyang, noted Park Won-gon, an associate professor in North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.
If any evidence emerges indicating that North Korean weapons were used by Russia in Ukraine, "it may result in North Korea turning the entire Nato alliance against it, which could subsequently trigger additional sanctions."
"The estimated the number of deaths in the city could reach between 18,000 to 20,000, based on the number of buildings in the districts destroyed by the flood," Mr Ghaithi told the Saudi-owned television station Al Arabiya.
At least 10,000 people are missing and tens of thousands more have been displaced.
Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the administration that runs eastern Libya, told Reuters that the number of casualties could increase significantly as the "sea is constantly dumping dozens of bodies".
Officials have asked for more international help.
A UN official said that both the eastern and western governments had requested international aid and were talking to each other.
"Both governments have reached out to the international community requesting services and help," Tauhid Pasha, of the International Organisation for Migration, told BBC Radio 4's the World Tonight programme.
"The Government of National Unity [western government] has extended its support to us and its request on behalf of the entire country and they are also co-ordinating with the government in the east," he said.
"The challenge now is the international community responding accordingly to the needs and the requests of the governments," he added.
Mr Pasha said support needed to be scaled up "very, very quickly and to do so we need money".
It split between the two rival administrations based in the capital Tripoli in the west and Tobruk in the east.
The country remains mired in conflict between numerous militias.
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah leads the UN-backed Government of National Unity in Tripoli.
Osama Hamad, the prime minister in the east, leads the rival House of Representatives.
However, many feel power there is really held by Gen Khalifa Haftar, who leads the Libyan National Army,
Gen Haftar received an Egyptian military delegation which came to offer aid and support after the disaster.
Reuters
EPA
UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Volker Turk stressed that all political groups had to work together in the aftermath of the floods.
"This is a time for unity of purpose," he said.
"All those affected must receive support without regard for any affiliations. It is important that particular care is taken to ensure protection of groups in vulnerable situations who are rendered even more at risk in the aftermath of such a disaster."
Abdulkader Assad, political editor of the Libya Observer, said having an internationally recognised government in the west rivalled by another government in the east had hindered rescue efforts.
"We all know that Libya has been split between two governments for the last decade at least and we haven't actually felt the impact of this division because the presence of two governments was all about vying for power and taking control of the country and parts of the country," he said.
"But now that some of the cities are experiencing this natural disaster, this calamity, we could see that the lack of a unified centralised government is actually affecting the lives of people."
Libyan rescue teams searching for survivors in Derna are being supported on the ground by:
Search and rescue teams from Egypt and Tunisia
More than 160 personnel from Turkey
Firefighters from Italy and Spain
Tommaso Della Longa, spokesman for the president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said time to find survivors was running out.
"We know that unfortunately this window will close in the next hours but hope is still there," he said.
Libyan Red Crescent teams in the field, he said, described the disaster as like "a bombardment and earthquake... happening at the same time".
"What they are telling us are really stories of entire areas of the city are not any more there, villages that are completely destroyed and thousands of families that at the moment really need everything," Mr Della Longa added.
Getty Images
Usama Al Husadi, 52, has been searching for his wife and five children since the catastrophic flood hit.
"I went by foot searching for them... I went to all hospitals and schools but no luck," he told Reuters news agency as he wept with his head in his hands.
"We lost at least 50 members from my father's family, between missing and dead," he said.
The bodies of more than 80 Egyptian migrants killed in the flood were returned to Egypt, the country's emigration ministry said, and were buried in their respective towns.
Kim Jong-un has pledged to support all of Russia’s decisions as he met Vladimir Putin during a rare trip outside North Korea.
Speaking at Russia’s Vostochny cosmodrome, Kim said “Russia has risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security. We will always support the decisions of President Putin and the Russian leadership … and we will be together in the fight against imperialism.”
Putin welcomed Kim, saying: “We, of course, need to talk about questions of economic cooperation and questions of a humanitarian nature. We have a lot of questions.” The US has suggested that Russia is seeking North Korean military hardware to aid in the invasion of Ukraine. North Korea has previously denied supplying weapons to Moscow.
A Kremlin spokesperson said the relationship between Russia and North Korea is not aimed at other countries, and should not be a worry for third countries. North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea this morning as a demonstration of strength while Kim was out of the country. Japan has protested.
Putin and Kim have now begun face-to-face talks, which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said would involve dialogue and cooperation in sensitive spheres, including the military.
Reuters is carrying that Kim Jong-un quote in full now, which was given in translation. He told his host Vladimir Putin:
I am deeply convinced that the heroic Russian army and people will brilliantly inherit the tradition of victory, confidently demonstrate invaluable dignity and honour on the fronts of the special military operation.
The Russian army and people will certainly win a great victory in the sacred struggle for the punishment of a great evil that claims hegemony and feeds an expansionist illusion.
Special military operation is the preferred term by Russian authorities for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.
Reuters reports that a Kremlin spokseperson has confirmed that the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un will conclude today. The location of the event, and even whether it would be happening at all, have been shrouded in mystery for much of the week.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un told Russian president Vladimir Putin via a translator on Wednesday that he was sure that the Russian army and people would triumph against “evil”.
As well as offering a toast to Putin’s health, Kim also said the pair had agreed on a further deepening of strategic cooperation.
According to Reuters, Putin in turn proposed a toast for strengthening friendship and the wellbeing between the people of the two nations.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that an 81-year-old woman has been taken to hospital with injuries after a Russian attack on Odradokamyanka in the Kherson region.
Ukraine has made “great strides” to join the EU since being granted candidate status in 2022, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said, offering the bloc’s enduring support.
She was addressing the European parliament as the bloc considers whether to grant a formal start of membership negotiations.
“We know this is not an easy road,” Reuters reports Von der Leyen said. “Accession is merit-based. It takes hard work and leadership. But there is already a lot of progress. We have seen the great strides Ukraine has already made since.”
“Our support to Ukraine will endure,” she said in her annual policy speech.
Von der Leyen promised the bloc would extend special protections granted to Ukrainian citizens who fled Russia’s war, and lawmakers gave a standing ovation as she recounted the fate of Victoria Amelina, the Ukrainian writer and activist killed after having sent her son to safety in Prague.
Here are some more of the images being released from the summit in Russia between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.
Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian military spy agency official, said on Wednesday that an overnight attack on the port of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet in occupied Crimea, had struck a large Russian landing ship and a submarine.
Reuters reports Yusov told it “We confirm a large landing vessel and submarine were hit. We do not comment on the means (used) for the strike.”
On its Telegram channel, Tass has reported that the face-to-face meeting between Putin and Kim has now ended.
The Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi will visit China for talks on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.
Reuters reports a spokesperson at the foreign ministry confirmed that China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs Li Hui will meet with Zuppi.
The Vatican had said on Tuesday that Zuppi will be in China from Wednesday to Friday as part of a diplomatic push to facilitate peace in Ukraine.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has also been giving a press conference this morning, and in it she lambasted Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Reuters reports she accused Armenia of making “unacceptable and harmful” statements that were damaging to the prospects for a peace settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
She said the Russian foreign ministry has also protested to Azerbaijan over comments it made about the weekend regional elections held in areas of Ukraine which are claimed to be annexed by Moscow. Kyiv has declared the elections a sham.
Here is the video clip of Kim Jong-un telling Russia’s president Vladimir Putin that North Korea supports Russia’s “sacred battle with the west”.
It is worth noting that we may not actually get any kind of formal joint declaration or read out after the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un today. RIA’s unofficial Telegram channel for its Kremlin pool journalists points out that “The DPRK, Russia, and China do not have such a procedure as the mandatory release of a joint document after a summit.”
Hungary has agreed with Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria that the four countries would impose national bans on Ukrainian grains imports if the EU does not extend an existing ban that expires on 15 September, Hungary’s farm minister said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports the minister of agriculture, István Nagy, saying in a Facebook post that the ban would apply to a wider range of Ukrainian products than the current measures.
Some eastern European countries have complained that Ukraine’s inability to export goods through its Black Sea ports has led to a flooding of local markets with cheap Ukrainian produce, which is affecting their own agricultural sectors.
Kim Jong-un has pledged to support all of Russia’s decisions as he met Vladimir Putin during a rare trip outside North Korea.
Speaking at Russia’s Vostochny cosmodrome, Kim said “Russia has risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security. We will always support the decisions of President Putin and the Russian leadership … and we will be together in the fight against imperialism.”
Putin welcomed Kim, saying: “We, of course, need to talk about questions of economic cooperation and questions of a humanitarian nature. We have a lot of questions.” The US has suggested that Russia is seeking North Korean military hardware to aid in the invasion of Ukraine. North Korea has previously denied supplying weapons to Moscow.
A Kremlin spokesperson said the relationship between Russia and North Korea is not aimed at other countries, and should not be a worry for third countries. North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea this morning as a demonstration of strength while Kim was out of the country. Japan has protested.
Putin and Kim have now begun face-to-face talks, which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said would involve dialogue and cooperation in sensitive spheres, including the military.
Reuters has just published a full transcript of the remarks made by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un in front of the media at the Vostochny cosmodrome. The Russian president welcomed North Korea’s leader saying:
Dear Mr Chairman, I am very glad to see and welcome you again in Russia – this time, as we agreed, at our Vostochny cosmodrome.
We are proud of how this sector is developing here, and this is our new facility. I hope both you and your colleagues find this interesting.
Our meeting is taking place at a very special time, after all. Most recently, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea celebrated 75 years of its creation and foundation. Seventy-five years of establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. Let me remind you that it was our country that was the first to recognise the sovereign independent state – the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Then very soon we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of the War of independence and the victory of the Korean people in this war. This is a landmark date, because our country also helped our friends in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to fight for this independence.
We, of course, need to talk about questions of economic cooperation and questions of a humanitarian nature. We have a lot of questions. I want to say that I am very glad to see you. Thank you for accepting the invitation and coming to Russia.
Kim’s response was as follows:
I express my gratitude to you for paying such attention to our visit to Russia.
The Soviet Union played a very big role in the liberation of our country. Our friendship has deep roots, and now relations with the Russian Federation are the first priority for our country I am sure that our meeting will be the next step to take relations to a new level.
Russia has risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security … against the hegemonic forces. We will always support the decisions of President Putin and the Russian leadership … and we will be together in the fight against imperialism.
Reuters also notes that Kim wrote in a visitor book at the centre: “The glory to Russia, which gave birth to the first space conquerors, will be immortal.”
On the ground in Ukraine, Suspilne has this round-up of overnight news, posting to Telegram to report:
At night, the Russian army attacked Odeshchyna with drones: there is damage to the port and civil infrastructure. Seven people were injured.
Air defence forces destroyed 32 Shahed drones out of 44 launched. Russian troops attacked Odeshchyna and Sumy region with them at night.
Defence forces have partial success near Klishchiivka in the Bakhmut direction, said the spokesperson of the general staff.
In the last 24 hours three people were killed and three others were injured as a result of shelling by the Russian Federation in Donetsk region. Four people were injured in Kherson region. One person was injured in Zaporizhzhia.
Here are a couple more of the official images being released to the press of Kim Jong-un’s visit to meet Vladimir Putin today.
Bodies recovered from a devastating flood which wiped out parts of the port city of Derna in eastern Libya have been buried in mass graves.
At least 2,300 people died when a tsunami-like river of floodwater swept through Derna on Sunday after a dam burst during Storm Daniel.
A mechanical digger worked in a cemetery where victims wrapped in body bags and blankets were buried together.
With 10,000 people reported missing, the death toll is expected to rise.
Mohammed Qamaty, a volunteer in Derna, said rescue workers were still searching for victims.
"We call on all the young Libyans, anyone who has a degree or any medical affiliation to please come and help us," he told Reuters news agency. "We have a shortage in nurses, we need help."
Some aid has started to arrive, including from Egypt, but rescue efforts have been hampered by the political situation in Libya, with the country split between two rival governments.
The US, Germany, Iran, Italy, Qatar and Turkey are among the countries that have said they have sent, or are ready to send, aid.
Water engineering experts have told the BBC it is likely a dam around 12km (eight miles) from Derna failed first, sending its water sweeping down a valley and overcoming a second dam which lay closer to the city.
Your device may not support this visualisation
Video footage recorded after dark on Sunday shows a river of floodwater churning through Derna, a city of about 100,000 people, with cars bobbing helplessly in the current.
Daylight revealed ruined neighbourhoods with streets covered in mud and rubble, littered with upturned vehicles.
There are harrowing stories of people being swept out to sea, while others clung onto rooftops to survive.
"I was shocked by what I saw, it's like a tsunami," Hisham Chkiouat, from Libya's eastern-based government, told BBC Newshour.
Eastern Libya's health minister, Othman Abduljaleel, told the Associated Press by phone from Derna: "We were stunned by the amount of destruction... The tragedy is very significant, and beyond the capacity of Derna and the government."
Reuters
The cities of Soussa, Al-Marj and Misrata were also affected by Sunday's storm.
Libya has been in political chaos since long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011 - leaving the oil-rich nation effectively split with an interim, internationally recognised government operating from the capital, Tripoli, and another one in the east.
But despite the split, the government in Tripoli has sent a plane with 14 tonnes of medical supplies, body bags and more than 80 doctors and paramedics.
Derna, about 250km east of Benghazi along the coast, is surrounded by the nearby hills of the fertile Jabal Akhdar region.
The city was once where militants from the Islamic State group built a presence in Libya, after Gaddafi's fall. They were driven out some years later by the Libyan National Army, forces loyal to Gen Khalifa Haftar who is allied to the eastern administration.
The powerful general said eastern officials were currently assessing damage caused by the floods so roads could be reconstructed and electricity restored to help rescue efforts.
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