As a result of the water, he is now in the putrefaction stage.”

The final details of one of Derna’s many victims are being carefully checked and logged in a hospital car park.

It is now one of the most important jobs here, as well as one of the most distressing. After a week in the sea, the man is unrecognizable. That morning, his body washed ashore.

An expert probes gently, searching for identifying marks and taking a DNA sample. In case he still has a family, that’s important. According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 10,000 people remain missing.

In the past, the Red Crescent has issued its own numbers.

Approximately 11,300 people have died so far, according to the UN. Although the total remains unclear, the sheer scale of this catastrophe is certain.

As Mohammed Miftah knows in his heart, his family is among the victims.

It was washed away when he went to find his sister and her husband after the floods.

Since then, he hasn’t heard anything from them. The torrent rose, brown water pouring in through his front door as he took a video.

The car is carried by the current and wedges into the open space, blocking it completely. “I saw cars coming down and ran out,” he recalls.

In just a few moments, the lights went out and our neighbours had disappeared. I thought I was going to die. We could see our neighbors waving flashlights.

“That was the hardest part.”