25 Dead in Beirut Building Collapse (VIDEO)
A residential building collapsed in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut on Sunday, killing at least 25 people and injuring 12.
The five-story building in the Ashrafieh district, which was home to a large group of foreign nationals working in the country, collapsed on Sunday evening but officials have yet to confirm what caused the fatal accident.
It is believed that as many as nine people are still trapped in the building and it is unclear how many people were in the building at the time of collapse. Some estimates suggest that as many as 30 to 40 people were present in the building when it crumbled, according to Al Jazeera.
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No survivors have been rescued since late Sunday evening.
“The ground shook like an earthquake, that’s what we all thought,” a local man who was walking by the building told The Associated Press.
“I heard screams, and then the dust was everywhere, and I ran,” the man added.
Lebanese officials have launched a probe into the incident and some suspect that cracks in the building as well as days of heavy rains may have contributed to the collapse.
Locals are demanding answers from officials as to why an unsafe building was inhabited. Police have arrested the owner of the building.
On Sunday, the rescue operations occurred in the midst of dense rainfall and thunderstorms, hampering efforts to rescue those trapped in the rubble. Emergency officials were forced to use everything from cranes to bare hands to pull survivors from out of the massive pile of debris and recover bodies.
The collapse came unexpectedly, even though residents reported hearing a loud blast earlier in the week. The noise was caused by the snap of a pillar holding the building together, according to The Associated Press.
Locals, as well as Egyptian, Sudanese, Jordanian, and Filipino nationals all perished in the collapse. At least half of those who perished were foreign nationals.
To view a view of ongoing rescue operations please view below.
