Funerals and fury as extent of damage is revealed
Lebanon begins official period of mourning as public anger swells days after deadly blasts
(Top) Residents shout at Lebanese soldiers in Beirut’s Gemmayzeh yesterday. (Above) Carole Helou hugs the coffin of her sister Nicole, 25, during her funeral yesterday.
Lebanon began an official period of national mourning yesterday, two days after a powerful explosion in Beirut flattened neighbourhoods in the bustling metropolis, even as rescue crews from around the world began arriving to help in the search for survivors.
The death toll rose to 137, and with more than 5,000 people injured and miles of debris still covering the epicenter of the blast at the Port of Beirut, officials said it would take time to determine the true number of victims.
Residents of the Lebanese capital, widely known for resilience forged during years of civil war, fanned out across the city to start what promises to be a herculean task of rebuilding. Rima Tarabay, who lives near the port, captured the public’s exhaustion with a government riven by factions, plagued by corruption and marked by incompetence. “The Lebanese are in the streets, showing great solidarity, and the authorities are just absent,” she said. “It’s impressive on the one hand, desolating on the other.”
‘Die slowly or acutely’
Prime Minister Hassan Diab has promised a full investigation into the blast and vowed to hold those responsible to account. But his words did little to calm the swelling public anger.
A group of doctors who were instrumental in anti-government demonstrations last year organised a protest yesterday at St. Joseph’s Hospital in central Beirut. “If we do not move today, please let’s shut up forever,” the organisers wrote on a flyer promoting the action.
They said the government had left the Lebanese people with two choices: “Die slowly (hunger and disease)” or “die acutely (blast injury).”
Images of the damage captured the scale of the devastation, and behind each shattered window and battered building was a human story. Funerals for those killed in the explosion began yesterday, with small groups of mourners gathering across the city to bury the dead. A funeral for Sahar Fares, a 24-year-old emergency medical worker who had joined the rush to the port to help extinguish an initial fire, only to be downed by the huge explosion, was aired on national television yesterday.
Her white coffin, held by members of the armed forces, was carried through an honor guard of fire trucks and emergency responders as her grieving family followed. Trucks that lined the way were draped in banners with a photo of Fares, smiling and in uniform.
“My sister is a hero,” a woman could be heard yelling through sobs as Fares’ coffin was loaded into a vehicle. “She was someone who served who sacrificed her life to save the country.”