Libya: Greek rescuers among those killed in road collision

Four members of a Greek rescue team and three members of a Libyan family have died in a road collision, according to a Libyan official.

The rescuers were among a team who were travelling on a bus to the flood-ravaged city of Derna on Sunday when their vehicle collided with a car carrying the family.

Two others in the car and eight others on the bus were seriously injured.

Greece has launched an investigation in cooperation with Libya.

Othman Abdeljalil, health minister in the administration that runs the east of the country, told a press conference the team had been travelling from the eastern city of Benghazi when the crash happened.

Libya is split between two rival governments - a UN-backed administration based in the capital Tripoli, and a rival Egyptian-supported authority based in Benghazi.

Greece's General National Defense Staff (Geetha) earlier said a bus carrying medical personnel collided with a vehicle moving in the opposite direction but reported only minor injuries.

They added that an operation was underway to repatriate their personnel.

A diplomatic source has told Greek news site Kathimerini that 16 members of the team were Greek rescuers and three were interpreters.

They were on their way to join teams already on the ground from other countries including France and Italy.

Thousands of people were killed when two dams above Derna broke during a powerful storm a week ago. The UN says the death toll so far stands at some 11,300.

More than 10,000 more remain officially missing, according to figures from the UN's Office for the Co-Ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.