LIBYAN authorities said on Saturday that there will be an investigation into the collapse of the two dams that flooded a local area and may have killed up to 20,000 people.

Attorney General Al-Siddiq al-Sour said in a statement released by the official Lana news agency, that the objective is to determine if there was corruption or negligence after years of deterioration due to lack of maintenance.

Mr Sour said the investigation will look into the role of successive governments to determine whether any negligence led to the tragedy.

He added the investigation will also focus on the money approved and spent for the maintenance of both sites. 

Nearly 12,000 people are known to have died after the two dams broke after heavy rains caused by Storm Daniel leading to heavy flooding and washing away the Libyan city of Derna. 

Authorities say that around 10,000 people are still believed to be missing.

Around 1,500 buildings have also been either damaged or destroyed in Derna.

A team from the Government of National Unity, which controls the western part of the country, stated that 891 buildings were completely destroyed, 211 partially and 398 were covered by mud after the collapse of the two dams.

Meanwhile, the security services continue the mass burial procedures of the dead after documenting their photographs and collecting DNA samples for later identification.

The International Organisation for Migration announced that around 38,640 people have been displaced in the areas most affected by the flood. 

While the search for those missing after Daniel continues, voices of protest grow in this nation due to the lack of preparation and misappropriation of funds.

The oil-rich state has been in crisis since 2011 when the US administration of Barack Obama launched an attack on Libya which led to the killing of the country’s long-time leader Muammar Gadaffi.