✖︎

Schedules are updated every Thursday.

Blog
Beirut.com 04 Sep 2020

A Heartbeat Under The Rubble? Here’s What We Know So Far

What a whirlwind of emotions.

Beirut is currently on its toes, praying for the possibility of recovering and saving a living human from underneath the rubble in Mar Mikhael after a heartbeat was detected by rescue teams earlier today.

This comes 30 DAYS after the blast, meaning that person was left there to die as a result of our government’s inefficient rescue efforts which barely lasted for a few days.

It wasn’t until TOPOS CHILE, a worldwide leading rescue team, arrived to Lebanon, that a human heartbeat was detected.

Here’s how it happened:

– The Chilean rescue team arrived to Lebanon 3 days ago on their own expenses, with the help of local NGO Achrafieh 2020.



– They had been in Mar Mikhael and Gemmayze, assessing the damages, when a dog from their team ran to a collapsed building, alerting them of something.

– The rescue dog (border collie breed) is trained to identify possible human survivors, which alerted TOPOS CHILE to the possibility of victims under the collapsed building.



– Using sensory machines, the rescue team was able to detect a faint heartbeat. They asked all press and citizens at the scene to turn their phones off and keep quiet as to not intercept their signal.

– Using thermal imagery, they located two victims. A large body who was declared dead, and a smaller body with a very faint heartbeat.

– Lebanese civil defense and the Chilean rescue team are now working together to clear out the rubble from the damaged building – something officials had a month to do, but still didn’t – to reach the victims.



– The rescue teams confirm this mission could last until midnight. Nothing certain until then.

– People all over Lebanon, some doubtful, some hopeful, are waiting on a miracle tonight.




1