Sudan: At least 60 dead from dam collapse – Reports of 200 missing

The UN, reported at least 60 people drowned in, after one collapsed at the northeastern end of the country. The constant rainfall that hit Sudan caused on Sunday (25.08.2024) the collapse of the Arbaat dam, which lies 40 km north of Port Sudan, the city – government seat. The rushing waters flooded about 20 villages in the northeast resulting in at least 30 people losing their lives, while fears are expressed that the account will be much larger, according to UN agencies. In the city of Port Sudan, diplomats, relief services and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons have also gathered. The Reuters news agency, which invokes one of the rescuers who rushed to the affected area north of Port Sudan, mentions up to 200 missing. “The area is unrecognizable. Electric lines and water pipes were destroyed,” said Omar Eisha Harun, the head of the Red Sea State water company, in a message sent through WhatsApp to employees. Harun reported seeing corpses of gold miners and objects used in their work to have been swept away by mud torrents. He even compared this disaster to that in Derna, eastern Libya, last September, when the waters of a storm broke dams and caused collapses of buildings, resulting in thousands of people finding death. On the way to Arbaat today a Reuters journalist saw people bury a man and cover his grave with wood that had drifted from the waters, trying to protect him from mud. This dam was the main water source for Port Sudan, where the country’s largest port in the Red Sea is located as well as the operating airport. “The city is in danger of thirst in the next few days,” the Sudanese Environmental Association said. Officials reported that the dam had begun to collapse and was accumulating mud for many days of continuous rain, which this year came earlier than usual. Sudan’s dams, roads and bridges were already uncoordinated and before the war broke out between the army and the Rapid Reaction Forces, in April 2023. Both sides have since thrown all their available resources into the war, neglecting infrastructure. Some people left their flooded homes and headed to the mountains, where they have now been ruled out, the health ministry said. Earlier, the government said 132 people have been killed by flooding across the country during the rainy season. Two weeks ago, the victims amounted to 68. At least 118,000 are displaced persons, according to United Nations agencies.