Port of Beirut: rescuers continue their search, officials arrested

Three days after the explosions in the port of Beirut which killed at least 154 people according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, international rescuers continue to search the rubble on Friday, August 7, in search of survivors.

The explosion of an incredible power, the most devastating experienced by Lebanon, fueled the anger of the population, which in October 2019 had triggered a vast protest movement against the ruling class.

The indignation is all the greater as the government has proved unable to justify the presence of ammonium nitrate in the port "without precautionary measures", according to the Prime Minister himself.

Near the epicenter of the explosion, near the destroyed giant grain silos, French, Italian, German and other rescuers are coordinating their efforts.

"I am waiting to hear that you were taken alive from the rubble, habibi (my darling)", wrote on Twitter Emilie Hasrouty, sister of a 38-year-old port official, missing in the silos.

On Friday morning, four bodies were found by rescuers in the almost completely destroyed port on Tuesday. The explosion also left more than 5,000 injured, tens of missing and hundreds of thousands homeless in nearby devastated neighborhoods, fueling public anger against the political class, accused of incompetence and corruption.

International aid for an area where "everything has been pulverized"

International aid is flowing to Beirut, where French President Emmanuel Macron visited Thursday, calling for an international investigation into the explosion, which authorities said was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where 2,700 tons of nitrate had been stored for six years. ammonium, a highly flammable chemical.

>> To read: Humanitarian aid, corruption, call for "change" ... What Emmanuel Macron said in Beirut

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, will in turn visit Beirut on Saturday to "show Europe's solidarity with the Lebanese people" and meet the leaders of this battered country. For their part, donors for Lebanon will meet on Sunday, according to the European Commission.

Since the explosion on Tuesday evening, the families of the missing have rushed to the port to hear from their loved ones.

The "particularity" of the Beirut drama? "The epicenter is a few meters from us, while in an earthquake, it is often several hundred meters underground," said Colonel Vincent Tissier, who heads a team of 55 members of the French civil security.

"Things usually collapse in layers, in layers. Everything has been pulverized here." Russian rescuers, wading through corn, conduct their search as excavators remove crushed containers.

Russian field hospital

Lebanese civil defense teams anxiously observe a sniffer dog circling a crater dug under a grounded crane. An agonizing calm reigns in the port, only broken by the sounds of machines clearing the immense expanse of rubble, endless mounds of twisted and disjointed iron.

In a capital that looks like an apocalypse, while the authorities have not put in place any device to help the citizens, hundreds of Lebanese have mobilized, in a vast outpouring of solidarity, to continue the clearing operations or reception of homeless.

>> To read: "Food shortage, health risks… Humanitarian aid crucial for the future of Lebanon"

Several countries including France, for their part, dispatched medical and sanitary equipment as well as field hospitals. The European Union released 33 million euros in emergency and the US military sent three shipments of water, food and medicine.

Aid from Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia was expected on Friday. In the huge sports city of Beirut, Russia has installed a field hospital, erecting around twenty medical tents where the first patients have started to arrive, the hospitals of the capital being saturated. 

Sixteen officials arrested and detained

Thursday evening, the police used tear gas in the city center to disperse dozens of demonstrators enraged by the incompetence and corruption of the authorities. Calls are circulating on social networks for an anti-government demonstration on Saturday, under the theme "Hang them".

Lebanese authorities say the warehouse exploded after a fire. Port authorities, customs services and some security services were all aware that hazardous chemicals were stored there but they mutually blamed each other.

In addition to ammonium nitrate, the military prosecutor mentioned the presence of "highly flammable materials and slow wicks" according to a statement.

Sixteen port and customs officials were arrested and detained in connection with the investigation.

With AFP

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