A Libyan minister confirmed that four members of a Greek rescue team, dispatched to Libya in response to the catastrophic floods in Derna, lost their lives in a road accident on Sunday.
Othman Abdeljalil, the health minister in the administration governing the eastern region of the country, informed reporters that the tragic incident occurred while the team was traveling from Benghazi to Derna, a distance of 300 kilometers (185 miles) to the east.
“The team was made up of 19 members. Four of them died and the other 15 were injured,” Abdeljalil told a press conference in Derna.
“Eight are in a stable condition and the other seven are critical,” he said.
The minister explained that the accident occurred when their vehicle collided with a car transporting a Libyan family. Tragically, three individuals in the car lost their lives, and two others sustained severe injuries, he stated.
The Greek National Defence General Staff, in Athens, released a statement indicating that the rescue team’s bus was involved in a collision with an oncoming vehicle.
The statement spoke only of “minor injuries” among the team members.
It said that according to Greek authorities in Libya, “the circumstances of the accident have yet to be clarified and the armed forces personnel have suffered minor injuries”.
The Greek statement added: “An operation to collect the personnel in Benghazi and repatriate them was underway.”