‘We won’t rest until we find our friends’: Beirut fire department search teams hunt for missing firefighters in blast epicentre

Over a week after the explosion, dozens of people are still unaccounted for, writes Bel Trew

The Fire department's search and rescue team is trying to find their missing colleauges (Bel Trew)

As if sick with heat, the bulldozers claw slowly at the mound of earth and corn piled high against the city’s bombed-out silo.

Air, choked with toxic dust, whistles through the tumbleweeds of iron: all that remains of Beirut port and the warehouse at the epicentre of Tuesday’s explosion.

Beside it, two beached boats lie limp on their side in a 200m water-filled crater that was once a sprawling dock.

In the foreground, the Lebanese rescue team battle the beating heat of a summer’s sun to find their colleagues.

Here, just a few minutes past six last Tuesday, nine firefighters and one female paramedic realised the enormity of the blaze they had been sent to fight blind.

One week on, the charred remains of seven of the team have been found alongside what’s left of their equipment.

But three firemen – Charbel Karam, Joe Bou Saab, Mathal Hawa - are still missing.

Their colleagues at the fire department have vowed they will not sleep until they find them and the rest of the missing port workers.

“We know there is so little chance that they are alive but even one per cent is enough for us to keep going,” says Lt Michel el-Murr, head of the fire department’s search and rescue effort from the blast site.

It is just one of several local and international teams trying to find remains or survivors.

“We are working day and night and will do until we find our missing people. But we’re running out of space to find them. We are on the final corner.”

Last Tuesday swathes of the Lebanese capital were wiped out in an enormous blast, triggered when nearly 3,000 tonnes of badly stored ammonium nitrate exploded at the port. The rescue teams confirmed that fireworks were stored in the same dangerous hangar, alongside other volatile materials, reportedly including paint thinner.

The explosion, thought to be among the largest non-nuclear blasts in modern history, killed at least 170 people and injured 6,000 more. Dozens of people, including the three firemen, are still missing.

Protests raged for days against the authorities after it emerged that both the Lebanese president and the prime minister had been warned about the dangerous stockpile of explosive material at the port, but had not acted.

Although the cabinet resigned earlier this week, anger still simmers.

On Friday, families of the dead and the injured formed a new group - ‘Victims of Beirut Massacre’ - which is calling on the United Nations Security Council to launch an independent investigation into the blast.

“Despite all the uncertainties, one fact is certain,” the collective wrote on their new website.

“The Lebanese government’s negligence and corruption have played a major role in this crime.”

They fear the Lebanese 10-person investigation panel won’t be impartial.

French forensic police and investigation magistrates have joined the probe and FBI investigators are expected to take part.

Lt. Michel el- Mur stands next to the massive crater created by last Tuesday's explosion (Bel Trew)

But there is still little faith: on Friday Lebanese prosecutor postponed the questioning of former and current, caretaker finance and public works ministers, over paperwork.

Many fear this means the panel will only blame “the small guys”.

“The ones who are really responsible will get away with their crime,” said Jad, a 38-year-old computer engineer.

Back at the blast site Lt Murr says the fire department is furious that their teams were not warned about the stockpile of explosive material before firefighters were sent in.

“If we had known we would have never let them go,” he said.

Firefighters dwarfed by the remains of Beirut's destroyed grain silo (Bel Trew)

The blast was so intense it tore Lebanon’s main grain silo in half, gauged out an enormous crater and even threw a ship from the sea on to dry land.

It also meant that the rescue teams have only been able to find incinerated parts.

They recently retrieved a fireman’s hat, shrunk from the heat and sliced neatly in half. Sections of the water pumps and hoses were buried by the feet of the silos. The fire truck is still missing.

Amid that were the mangled remains of body parts.

“It’s hard to describe how horrible it is to retrieve pieces of friends like that,” Lt Murr says, after a pause.

“We won’t rest until we find them.”