Libya floods: The bodies left unrecognisable by disaster

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Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing

A masked doctor leans down into a black plastic body bag, and gently manipulates the legs of the man inside. "First we determine age, sex and length," he explains.

"He's in the putrefaction stage now, because of the water."

In a hospital car park in the eastern Libyan city of Derna, the final details of one of its many victims are being carefully checked and logged.

This is now one of the most vital jobs here, and one of the most distressing. The man is unrecognisable after spending a week in the sea. His body washed ashore that morning.

Expert hands gently probe, looking for identifying marks and taking a DNA swab. That's important, in case there's a family still alive to claim him.

More than 10,000 people remain officially missing, according to figures from the UN's Office for the Co-Ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The Red Crescent has been issuing its own numbers.

The UN says the death toll so far stands at some 11,300. The final total remains unclear - although the one thing that is certain is the sheer scale of this catastrophe.

Mohammed Miftah knows in his heart his family are among the victims.

When he went to find his sister and her husband at their home after the floods, it had been washed away.

He's heard nothing from them since. He shows me a video he took as the torrent rose, brown water pouring in through his front door.

 

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Unimaginable absolutely horrific