NEGLIGENCE

Mayor of Libyan City Arrested Over Dam Collapse That Killed Thousands

Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi, whose house was burned down by protesters last week, was one of eight local officials arrested in Derna.

The mayor of an eastern Libyan city from which thousands of people were swept away to their deaths after the collapse of two dams has been arrested, accused of mismanagement and negligence, officials said. Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi, whose house was burned down by protesters last week, was one of eight local officials arrested, according to a statement from the Libyan attorney general that did not name the men. The dams were built to hold back water from a river flowing through the city into the Mediterranean, but Reuters reported that a 2007 contract to repair the structures fell by the wayside as Libya descended into civil war after the toppling of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Conflicting figures have been released for the death toll from the Derna tragedy, with one U.N. agency putting number of dead at 11,300, with more than 10,000 others still missing.