The Tobruk Coastal Guards Department announced on its official Facebook page on Tuesday that the bodies of 145 Egyptians who died due to the impact of Storm Daniel have been returned to Egypt.

The bodies were received at Tobruk’s morgue and washed according to Islamic ritual before being sent to their homeland.

The department also announced that it would release a list of the victims’ names online. According to one Egyptian survivor, most of the victims hail from the village of El-Sherif in Upper Egypt's Beni Suef governorate. 

 The department added that it has received many requests from concerned families in Egypt who could not reach their relatives.

This is the first group of deceased Egyptians to officially arrive from Libya.

The Egyptian Armed Forces recently sent three military aircraft carrying medical supplies, food, and a team of 25 rescuers equipped for relief operations. A fourth aircraft will be used to evacuate the injured and deceased.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also announced that it was closely monitoring the aftermath of Storm Daniel, which hit several Libyan regions, causing a number of Egyptian casualties and missing persons.

A hotline has been opened between the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the Egyptian Consulate in Benghazi to coordinate support for Egyptian citizens in the affected areas, according to a statement from the ministry.

The ministry is also working to obtain data on the victims and assures the public that it is closely following the search and rescue operations.

According to a February report from the International Organization for Migration, there are at least 140,000 Egyptians living in Libya.

The report added that Egyptian migrants constitute 21 per cent of Libya's total migrant population. 47 percent of those Egyptian migrants live in the east of the country.