A Chilean rescue team confirmed that it detected signs of life underneath the rubble of a building that collapsed due to the massive explosion in Beirut.
TOPOS CHILE rescue team member reported to the international news agency that it detected signs of a pulse and breathing using a scanning machine near the ground floor of the building. It most expectedly belongs to a child.
He also said that the presence of at least one body has also been found.
The Chilean team had been inspecting the streets in the capital as part of a mission to protect buildings before the reconstruction phase. Akram Nehme, a member of the Achrafieh 2020 NGO that helped bring TOPOS CHILE to Beirut, reported that one of their search dogs alerted them of human presence.
Edward Bitar, a member of NGO Live Love Lebanon working with TOPOS CHILE in Lebanon, said that they had discovered 18 breath cycles per minute emanating from under the rubble using the sensor.
“We are trying to keep hopes low. If someone is found, it would be a miracle,” said Bitar.
Lebnon’s caretaker government has issued a report stating that the death toll from Beirut’s port blast has risen to 190 with more than 6,500 people injured, and three of the victims are still missing.
The Lebanese authorities are still searching the cause of the highly explosive material stored unsafely for years that caused the blast and wrecked swathes of the city.