More than 60 people are still missing in Beirut, four days after the explosion at the port that has devastated the capital and killed more than 150 people, said on Saturday, a leader of the lebanese ministry of Health.
"The death toll stands at 154, including 25 that have not yet been identified," said this person. "In addition, we have 60 people still missing ", he said to the Agence France-Presse. The ministry of Health said on Friday that at least 120 of the more than 5 000 people injured by the explosion of Tuesday, were still in a critical condition.
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The blast in the port of Beirut has been caused by the several tons of ammonium nitrate stored for six years in a warehouse " without precautionary measures ", as admitted even by the Prime minister. First aiders lebanese, French, germans, russians, and other nationalities are continuing their operations on the scene of the explosion to try to find survivors.
hundreds of thousands of people in the street
This powerful fire blast, the most devastating ever occurred in Lebanon, was also put out on the street hundreds of thousands of people, fuelling the anger of the people against the political class, accused of incompetence and corruption. Thousands of Lebanese are expected Saturday for a mass demonstration in Beirut against their leaders that they make responsible of this disaster.
The lebanese president, Michel Aoun, rejected on Friday any international investigation into the explosion, believing that it would dilute the truth. Twenty officials of port and customs officials were arrested, according to sources legal and safe. Among them, the director general of customs Badri Daher and president of the board of directors of the port Hassan Koraytem.
