BEIRUT: FIRST A SONIC BOOM THEN A FIREBALL
As full horror of blast that killed 136 is revealed, a frantic search in the rubble for survivors
FAMILIES and rescue workers frantically scoured the rubble of Beirut for survivors last night, a day after a huge explosion devastated the Lebanese capital.
The death toll stood at 136, with more than 5,000 injured in the blast at the port which shook the whole city and could be felt more than 250km away in Cyprus.
At least 80 are missing, with fears some are trapped beneath the flattened buildings.
As witnesses described an ‘Armageddon’, Lebanon declared a two-week state of emergency, handing over control of security to the military. France flew in drones, search dogs, cameras and medical equipment after a plea for help by Lebanese prime minister Hassan Diab.
Local media showed survivors being brought out of the rubble on stretchers. One, Issam Shamas, a civil defence volunteer, was pulled out to cheers after being trapped for ten hours. Video footage emerged of Tuesday’s disaster, showing emergency workers rushing to help in what they thought was a small blast before being caught up in the second huge explosion which razed the area around it.
Other pictures showed wrecked cars, streets covered in shattered glass and twisted metal, destroyed homes and the wounded walking bloodied and dazed in the streets.
An investigation was ordered into the cause of the blast, which has left 300,000 homeless.
It is thought to have been triggered when a small blaze ignited 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, and last night a number of port officials were placed under house arrest.
The dangerous chemical had been confiscated and then stored in a warehouse at the port for six years despite repeated warnings of the lethal danger it posed.
Ammonium nitrate is used mainly as a fertiliser – its nitrogen content helped achieve a huge increase in crop yields – but is highly explosive when mixed with fuel. It has caused several industrial accidents and has been used by terror groups including the IRA and the Taliban in deadly attacks. It was used by the Provisional IRA in the Bishopsgate bombing in London in 1993 and the Manchester bombing three years later.
President Michel Aoun declared three days of mourning. Opening an emergency cabinet meeting, he said: ‘No words can describe the horror that has hit Beirut last night, turning it into a disasterstricken city.’ The head of
Lebanon’s Red Cross, George Kettani, said: ‘There are victims and casualties everywhere.’
Hospitals already struggling to cope with a surge in coronavirus cases were said to be overwhelmed with patients, with some pictured in the car park receiving care.
Livia Caruso, 30, an Italian national, described scenes of ‘blood everywhere’ ‘gaping wounds’ and ‘screaming and crying’ as the explosion hit.
She told the Mail she and her Lebanese husband Hussein Farran were at his bar about 2km from the port when they felt like ‘a bomb’ had dropped on them. She suffered cuts, including a wound to her head. Her apartment and the bar were destroyed.
‘Glass exploded everywhere and we lunged for the stairs to make our way to safety downstairs but it was complete mayhem,’ she said.
‘I was in shock, I could barely move or say anything. My husband was covered in blood and fainted momentarily.
‘There was a girl with a gaping wound in her leg, and others with all kinds of non-critical injuries, including myself.’
Dr Antoine Qurban, his head bandaged, said the blast brought ‘Armageddon’ to Beirut’s overwhelmed hospitals.
‘Wounded people bleeding out in the middle of the street, others lying on the ground in the hospital courtyard – it reminded me of my missions with Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan many years ago,’ he said.
The scenes were still chaotic yesterday as people, wounded overnight by falling shards of glass, sought treatment.
Mothers asked desperately about the fate of their wounded sons.
An elderly man begged for news of his wife, who had been transferred from another hospital. The
‘There was a girl with a gaping wound in her leg’
Hotel-Dieu hospital treated at least 300 wounded, according to its medical director Dr George Dabar. He was a medical student there during Lebanon’s 15-year civil war.
‘Even then, I didn’t see anything like what I saw yesterday,’ he said.
Jad Sakr, of Save The Children in Beirut, said: ‘The explosion could not have come at a worse time: during an economic collapse, just a day after a Covid-19 lockdown lifted in Beirut and just before a new lockdown would have come into effect.
‘Many people used this window of opportunity to go running, or just socialise and hang out at the seaside and escape their worries – very close to where the explosion happened.’