[Picture taken 7 hours ago of the site by Gino]
According to Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, the search operations were called off and the equipment were retrieved from the scene of the building collapse in Ashrafiyeh [Naharnet]. The final death toll rose to 27 people while 12 people were reported injured and no one is missing. This statement was given an hour ago.
As of 9 pm yesterday, the Red Cross reported 27 deaths, 12 injuries and 4 to 9 people were reported missing, all of Sudanese nationality. Why did the search stop if there are still people missing?
In other news, there are around 20,000 buildings risking collapse according to MP Mohammad Kabbani!! [Link]
So disturbing and sad.. :/ May the ones that passed away rest in piece and the injured heal quickly.. It’s sad to know that some people are actually reliefed about the majority being foreign-workers. Lebanese, Egyptian, Sudanese. That’s not important. They’re human, period. It is the governments responsibility to ensure that every single Lebanese building is safe for residing. This is such a crisis. The next time this happens (hopefully not), people wont get over it. All people did was talk, talk and talk. In order to reach a solution, we need action. Lebanese need protests, organizations, whatever it takes, because if one thinks it is okay for others to die like this, and if they dont care about other people’s building conditions, they should think twice, because that could happen to them anytime now. After all, the majority of people were nice, kind and supportive which was great. I hope that this is the last time we experience something like this and I hope that the government is willing to take any necessary action in order to make sure that people are living safely under their roofs.
With this announced ending by our interior minister, everything regarding this case will end , and we will never reach conclusions neither see any official authority taking actions and we will all be awaiting an other accident to happen in order to have new subject to discuss in the news and the talk shows ! this is the max we can do in such situations in our pathetic country!