Frantic search in Beirut as rescuers detect ‘heartbeat in the rubble’
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Rescuers in Beirut are continuing to search through the rubble of a building amid reports a person could be alive, one month after a massive blast devastated the Lebanese capital.
Specialist sensor equipment was to sent the Mar Mikhael area after unconfirmed reports that a heartbeat was detected.
The search was initially suspended overnight, but volunteers continued to work by hand, reports say.
More than 200 people died when 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate detonated.
Rescue team from Chile work with Lebanese civil defense in a rescue mission after a scanner and a sniffer dog from the rescue team detected that there might be a survivor under the rubble at Mar Mikhael area in Beirut, Lebanon. EPA-EFE/WAEL HAMZEH
Some 300,000 people were left homeless by the blast on 4 August.
There has been outrage that so much hazardous material was stored unsafely in a warehouse in the city’s port, which lies close to many residential areas.
The Lebanese government’s resignation shortly afterwards failed to pacify protesters, who clashed with police in the city for several nights.
In a separate development, four containers with 4.3 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were found on Thursday outside Beirut’s seaport, the army said.
