Pope Tawadros II dispatched on 20 September a delegation of bishops to offer the Coptic Church’s and his personal condolences to the Beni-Sweif families who lost family members to Storm Daniel in Derna, Libya.
Storm Daniel which started in Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey on 4 September, later hit Libya hard. It ripped through the Mediterranean district of Derna; dams above Derna collapsed, “sweeping whole neighbourhoods with their residents into the sea”, according to Libyan officials. Some 5,000 lost their lives, and more than 10,000 are missing. Some 250 victims came from Egypt; they had all lived and worked in Libya. Among them were 70 victims from Beni-Sweif’s al-Sharif village which bid them a final farewell in a public funeral and buried them on 13 September as soon as their bodies had arrived home.
The Church delegation which consisted of representatives of the Bishopric of Public Services and the Bishopric of Beba and Fashn, was received and accompanied by the village’s imam and representatives of the Ministry of Social Solidarity.
Egypt buries victims of Libya’s Storm Daniel, grants financial aid to families