A team of Chilean rescuers had claimed to have detected heartbeats on Wednesday under the rubble of a building, giving rise to the hope of finding a survivor of the powerful explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4.
"There is nothing left," said the director of operations for the Lebanese Civil Defense on Sunday.
The rescue services have completed their search in the ruins of a building in a stricken district of Beirut without finding any victims, an official said on Sunday, after information this week on a possible survivor.
A team of Chilean rescuers had assured to have detected Wednesday heartbeats under the rubble of a building thanks to a sniffer dog and thermal scanners, giving rise to the hope of finding a survivor of the powerful explosion in the port of Beirut that occurred on August 4.
"There was neither alive nor dead" under the rubble
But as the days went by, hope gradually faded.
"There is nothing left," said Lebanese Civil Defense operations director George Abou Moussa on Sunday, when asked whether there was still search operations on this site.
"There was neither alive nor dead" under the rubble, he said.
The day before, Francesco Lermanda, who heads the Chilean rescue team, had indicated that "no sign of life" had been found under the rubble of the building.
Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud had previously said there could be one or two bodies, and possibly even a survivor.
Seven people are still missing
This hope, a month after the apocalyptic explosion caused by several hundred tons of ammonium nitrate stored for years at the port without precautionary measures, had moved a large part of a bruised and traumatized public opinion.
"I did not know that I needed a miracle so much. God, please, give Beirut the miracle it deserves," director Selim Mourad had indicated on Facebook on Friday.
The August 4 explosion, which destroyed entire neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital, left at least 191 dead and injured more than 6,500 people.
Seven people are still missing.