‘No signs of life’ in Beirut rubble as search for blast survivors proves unsuccessful
- Some 50 rescuers and volunteers had worked for three days to try to locate anyone left alive
- The August 4 blast killed about 190 people and injured 6,000 more
Rescuers digging through the rubble of a Beirut building for the third day on Saturday said there was no longer hope of finding someone alive, more than a month after a massive port explosion shattered Lebanon’s capital.
About 50 rescuers and volunteers, including a specialist team from Chile, had worked for three days to locate anyone after sensors on Thursday detected signs of breathing and heat.
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“Technically speaking, there are no signs of life,” Francisco Lermanta, the head of volunteer rescue group Topos Chile, said in a news conference on Saturday evening, adding that rescuers had combed 95 per cent of the building.
The signs of life detected in the past two days, Lermanta said, were breaths of fellow rescuers already inside the building picked up by their sensitive equipment. He said efforts would now focus on clearing the rubble and finding remains.
“We never stop with even one per cent of hope,” Lermanta said, of finding a body. “We never stop until the job is done.”