Communication outage hits flood-stricken city in Libya, further complicating search efforts

By SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — A day-long communication outage in a flood-stricken city in eastern Libya has further complicated the work of teams searching for bodies under the rubble and at sea. Libya’s state-owned telecommunications company says the outage began when fiber-optic cables in eastern Libya were severed Tuesday. Internet and phone service were knocked out, with residents and journalists unable to reach those inside the city of Derna. Authorities say communications in Derna were restored Wednesday evening. Heavy rains triggered deadly flooding across eastern Libya earlier this month. The storm overwhelmed two dams in the first hours of Sept. 11, unleashing walls of water that destroyed entire neighborhoods in Derna and killed thousands of people.