The death toll from Tuesday’s Beirut port blast has risen to 165 as rescue operations continued despite dimming hopes of finding survivors, according to a health ministry official.
“We are still searching, but we are losing hope.
“Families of missing people are asking us to find one body parts of their children, they are also losing hope, a rescue worker who requested anonymity told dpa at the scene.
The official said that about 20 people were still unaccounted for, adding: “we believe those were very close to the warehouse where the blast took place.’’
The explosion that ripped through Beirut’s port injured some 6,000 people, displaced between 250,000 and 300,000 others and inflicted massive destruction across the city.
The port blast was linked to a warehouse in which some 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were being stored.
A march is planned in the evening to mark one week since the blast took place.
In areas near the blast site, people were still removing rubble from their homes.
“All I could find was my little daughter’s doll under the rubble,’’ a crying local resident said.
The blast prompted the Lebanese government of Hassan Diab to resign on Monday amid calls by protesters to hold those responsible accountable. (dpa/NAN)