Search called off for 'miracle' survivor in Beirut rubble
A three-day rescue operation to save a potential survivor of the Beirut explosion - originally suspected to be a small child - from beneath the rubble of a building was called off on Saturday night.
A month after the deadly explosion ripped apart Beirut, many were pinning their hopes on a miracle after a Chilean rescue team and their border collie rescue dog detected signs of life in the destroyed building.
However, Francisco Lermanta, the head of volunteer group Topos Chile, told reporters on Saturday night that they had combed through 95 per cent of the building over the past three days and that there was no longer any sign of life. It appears that initial signs were a false alarm.
“At least we don’t have another name to add to that horrible list of the dead,” said Melissa Fathallah, an activist who helped organise the rescue effort. “We were already beyond angry with our so-called government,” she added.
Earlier this week, the Chilean rescue team's equipment was detecting breaths from what appeared to be a small body that could be seen with thermal imagery. At various points over the three days, crowds were asked to be silent and to turn their phones off while the breaths were measured - 18 per minute, 7 per minute, 2 per minute. Hope was fading. Then it hit 18 again. Lebanon was gripped.
Joint Lebanese and Chilean rescue teams delicately pulled apart the rubble, sometimes with bare hands, to get to the area where the thermal imagery appeared to show two bodies: one larger that was thought to be dead, covering one smaller that was showing signs of life. But nothing was found.
The breaths that were being detected, it turned out, were from rescuers trying to get to that area of the building, unintentionally picked up by the machine, according to Mr Lermanta.
“You’re dealing with a community that has been through so much trauma in the past 11 months. Psychologically we’re all messed up. Some part of me wishes they didn’t give us any piece of hope, because it’s something we were desperately clinging on to,” said Ms Fathallah.
The team is continuing to search for any remains as they clear out the rubble, although it is believed to be highly unlikely that anything will be found.
