Beirut | Rescuers continue on Friday to dig in the rubble of a stricken district of Beirut where heartbeats were detected with a scanner the day before, with the hope of finding a survivor, one month to the day after the explosion at the port.
• Read also: Beirut explosion: one month later, still questions
Chilean rescuers recently dispatched to the Lebanese capital spotted Thursday, thanks to a sniffer dog and thermal scanners, pulsations under the rubble of a building, giving hope of finding a survivor of the explosion that destroyed the 4 August of entire sections of Beirut, killing 191 people and injuring more than 6,500 people.
Research continued on Friday, after a night spent clearing large concrete blocks while avoiding a total collapse of the building.
“The experts (…) discovered that someone was breathing slowly under the rubble and at a depth of three meters (…) It requires digging three tunnels to reach the place” where the possible survivor would be. , indicated in the early evening the leader of the Chilean team, Francisco Lermanda.
“Work is currently underway” but “there is no indication whether this person is alive or not,” Lermanda added at a press conference.
Earlier in the day, hopes for a happy ending were fading.
“We have cleared the rubble, but we have not yet achieved a result,” Civil Defense Director of Operations George Abou Moussa told AFP.
“We carried out new tests to monitor heart rate or respiration, and this revealed a low rate (…) seven beats per minute”, specified Nicolas Saadeh, research coordinator.
The day before, a rhythm of 16 to 18 beats per minute had been detected.
A French civil engineer, Emmanuel Durand, participating in the rescue efforts told AFP that the 3D map scans carried out on the damaged building had so far shown “no sign of life”.
Psychological fallout
Lebanon has neither the equipment nor the technical capacity to manage such disasters. Several countries quickly dispatched relief and technical assistance after the explosion.
The temporary stoppage of research during the night angered some Lebanese on social networks pointing the finger at the authorities deemed responsible for the tragedy by their negligence.
The army said in a statement that the work had been suspended for two hours “because of the risk of collapse of one of the cracked walls of the building”.
Seven people are still missing, according to the army.
According to the authorities, the explosion was caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored “without precautionary measures” for years at the port.
It has worsened the economic and political crisis that has shaken the country for nearly a year. The World Bank has estimated the damage and economic losses of the blast at between 6.7 and 8.1 billion dollars (between 5.7 and 6.8 billion euros)
On Friday, Unicef said that “600,000 children living within a radius of 20 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion could suffer negative psychological consequences in the short and long term.”
White roses
At 6:08 p.m., the time of the explosion, commemorative ceremonies and a minute of silence were held at the port and at the headquarters of a nearby fire station – of which ten members were killed in the tragedy -, in which participated relatives of the victims.
At the foot of a memorial erected by the army at the port, some have placed white roses.
“We still don’t know how the explosion happened, what happened and who is responsible,” lamented Michelle, the sister of Joe Antoun, a port worker who died in the explosion.
The brother of an engineer who also perished in the tragedy also called for “justice”.
The Lebanese judge in charge of the investigation heard Thursday resigning Prime Minister Hassan Diab, the first senior official to testify, after having issued 25 arrest warrants in recent weeks.
The Vatican Secretary of State, dispatched to Beirut by the Pope on the occasion of a universal day of prayer and fasting for Lebanon, wanted to be the bearer of a message of hope.
“Lebanon is not alone,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin. ” Do not be afraid. ”