Libya: Bloody chaos at hospital gives glimpse of Sirte’s agony

Portia Walker 
The Independent
October 11, 2011

In the windswept lobby of the Ibn Sidr hospital in Sirte, wounded men with blank expressions lay on trolleys, listening to the irregular drumbeat of the explosions destroying their city.

Forces loyal to the National Transitional Council (NTC) captured the hospital on Sunday morning. The scenes on Monday offered a sad glimpse into the desperate existence of those holding out in the last city in Libya still loyal to former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

There was blood on the floor and decomposing bodies in the morgue. The rooms were ransacked and the windows smashed. Many of the wounded had been wheeled into the corridors as shelling made the wards unsafe.

Workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were working to evacuate the wounded. “These people need to be treated and they can’t be treated here,” said Dibeh Fikr, spokesperson for the ICRC in Libya. But other hospitals nearby were full and aid workers were struggling to find beds for the 100 or so patients waiting there.

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This article was posted: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 6:56 am

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