‘WE ARE JUST ACHING TO HEAR A GOOD STORY’: THE SEARCH GOES ON FOR BEIRUT’S MISSING
▶ Families still hunting for their loved ones since the port disaster speak to Liz Cookman and Bassam Zaazaa
Heart-broken families in Beirut are still desperately trying to find out what happened to their loved ones after Tuesday’s blast. “We’re devastated. We’re just aching to hear a good story,” said Tatiana Hasrouty, whose father Ghassan is still missing, told The National from Beirut. “We just want to hear something about him. We’re crying all the time and we can’t sleep.”
Her father went to his job as a manager at the operating room for Beirut port’s underground chambers at 6.30am on Tuesday. His family last spoke to him when he called his wife at 5.30pm, asking for a pillow and blanket.
He was so snowed under with work that he intended to stay the night.
Before any of the family were able to leave their home in the city’s Sin El Fil district with the supplies, the first explosion happened.
The second broke all the windows in the house.
“We turned on the TV. At first, they said that they were targeting former prime minister [Saad] Hariri, and then they said it was at the port,” Ms Hasrouty said. “We started calling him and texting him, but nothing. And still now, nothing.”
The family believe Mr Hasrouty and seven of his co-workers are trapped beneath rubble at the port, and they are afraid that no one is trying to help them. They contacted the Health Ministry and visited hospitals but have found no trace of him yet.
Mr Hasrouty, 59, has worked at the operations room for 38 years and suffers from hypertension.
“My father is a great, hardworking man. He’s so brave and he taught us to be, too,” Ms Hasrouty said. “He takes really good care of us, of everyone he knows. Everybody loves him because he is kind to everybody. He would never let anyone down and I truly believe he is a hero, and heroes always survive.”
The family do not believe the authorities are doing enough to find those who are missing, or to keep them informed.
About 100 people are thought to still be missing after 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded at Beirut port, causing a blast so strong that a seismic event of 3.3 magnitude was recorded.
At least 145 people are dead and thousands injured. About 300,000 people were left homeless and the extent of the destruction is so great that nearly 50 per cent of Beirut is damaged.
The family of a missing Lebanese soldier are also waiting for news.
Estephan Saeed Rohanna, who was billeted to a military base next to the site of the explosion, has been missing for more than 40 hours.
“We know nothing about his fate or whereabouts,” his sister Monica Rohanna told The National on Thursday. “We have no clue if he survived … the last person he communicated with was his female friend who got in contact with Estephan when he sent her a video of the fire at the warehouse.”
Ms Rohanna said rescue teams found his bag near the blast site. His black BMW car was parked 500 metres away.
“Not a single official contacted us regarding his fate or whereabouts,” she said. “We have been crazily searching for him around Beirut hospitals or looking for any information that could help lead us to something or tell us if he is still alive.”
An Instagram account set up to help find those lost in the cataclysmic explosion amassed almost 92,000 followers in a day.
On Wednesday afternoon, Cyprus’s foreign minister said two police helicopters were on their way to Lebanon with 10 emergency response personnel and eight sniffer dogs to help locate survivors. International rescuers from all over the world also began to arrive to help sift through wreckage and rubble.
However, for Ms Hasrouty, it is the Lebanese government that needs to step up.
“If you notice, so much help is coming from foreign countries – our country isn’t working enough,” she said.