BEIRUT: Rescue workers in Lebanon are in a race against time with about half a meter of rubble left between them and what they believe could be a survivor of the devastating Aug. 4 Beirut blast.
State news previously reported that a rescue and recovery team with a specially trained search dog had detected signs of a pulse and breathing under a destroyed building in the Gemmayze area of Beirut, one of the worst hit areas by the blast.
The team of rescue workers included volunteers from Chile, as well as Lebanon and members of the local civil defense force.
The building where the search was being conducted had once housed a bar on its ground floor.
The search came as Lebanon was to mark one month since the blast that killed about 190 people and injured 6,000 others,
leaving the country traumatized. A moment of silence was planned at 6:08 p.m., the moment that marks the most destructive single incident in Lebanon’s history on Aug. 4.
#LIVE: With half a meter left, rescuers in #Lebanon are trying to reach a possible survivor of #BeirutBlast trapped under the rubble https://t.co/SebShiwR7b
— Arab News (@arabnews) September 4, 2020
“These (signs of breathing and pulse) along with the temperature sensor means there is a possibility of life,” rescue worker Eddy Bitar told reporters at the scene.
Rescue workers in bright jackets clambered over the building that had collapsed in the blast.
Bitar said a civil defense unit had been called in to help with extra equipment to conduct the search.
Local media said any search and rescue effort, if it became clear that someone was still alive, was likely to take hours.
Reuters/AP