The Libya Football Federation (LFF) has confirmed that the devastating floods that ravaged the North African country since Monday has claimed the lives of four elite footballers.
The floods, which emanated from torrential rains caused by Storm Daniel, resulted in two dams bursting, sweeping away large parts of the eastern port city of Derna where over 6,000 people have reportedly died, with another 10,000 missing.
An official statement by the LFF gave the names of the four footballers as Shaheen Al-Jamil, Monder Sadaqa and brothers, Saleh and Ayoub Sasi.
The statement said Sadaqa played for Derna-based Premier League side, Darnes, where the Sasi brothers were part of the youth team, while Al-Jamil recently signed for Al-Tahaddi, another Premier League team in the city of Benghazi.
Darnes are one of two teams playing in Derna along with Al-Afreky, another club in Libya’s second-tier known as the First Division.
The club’s stadium which is one of the historical landmarks of the city, suffered significant damage in the flooding and was swept into the Mediterranean Sea along with most parts of the city which is the worst hit in the flood.
The LFF mourned the loss of the players and all victims of the disaster, saying “We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.”
A later report by BBC Sport Africa states that another footballer, Ibrahim Al-Qaziri, also died in the floods.
The BBC report said Al-Qaziri had played for several Libyan Premier League sides and was most recently at second-tier Nusour Martouba.