'No signs of life' in Beirut rubble after three-day seek out blast survivors
06 September, 2020
Rescue employees digging through the rubble of a Beirut building for the 3rd day on Saturday said there was no longer hope of finding someone alive greater than a month after an enormous port explosion shattered Lebanon’s capital.
About 50 rescue workers and volunteers, including a consultant team from Chile, had worked for three days to find anyone after sensors on Thursday detected signs of breathing and heat.
“Technically speaking, there are no signs of life,” Francisco Lermanda, the top of volunteer rescue group Topos Chile, said in a news conference on Saturday evening, adding that rescuers had combed 95% of the building.
The signs of life detected previously two days, Lermanda said, were breaths of fellow rescuers already inside building found by their sensitive equipment. He said efforts would now focus on clearing the rubble and finding remains.
“We never stop with even one percent of hope,” Lermanda said, of finding a body. “We never stop before job is performed.”
The Aug. 4 blast killed about 190 people, injured 6,000 more, and devastated whole neighborhoods. The authorities held ceremonies on Friday to mark per month because the explosion tore right into a city already reeling from a crippling monetary crisis.
Rescue efforts dominated local and social media, as the Lebanese were transfixed, in need of a miracle. None came.
The ruined building where in fact the search was continuing lies between your residential districts of Gemmayze and Mar Mikhael, among the hardest hit areas by the blast and home to many old buildings that crumbled as the shockwave ripped through.
Work was slow, rescue staff said early in the day, as the badly damaged building was at risk of complete collapse.
“The building is very crumbling, it’s scary and there’s a lot of danger to the team,” said George Abou Moussa, head of Lebanon’s civil defense.
Workers used shovels and their hands to dig, while mechanical diggers and a crane lifted heavy debris. Scanning equipment was also used to create 3D images of the wrecked building.
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