A month on, rescue teams search for survivors under rubble in Beirut

(Karachi) Rescue teams in Beirut have detected signs of life in the rubble of a building 30 days after a massive explosion destroyed city's coastal area, local media reported.

As per details, the search operation is being carried out in Mar Mikhael area after rescue teams detected movement deep within the debris of a building that collapsed in August in Beirut's catastrophic explosion. Rescuers said movement most likely belonged to a child, while there is also presence of at least one body.

The rescue operation is being carried out by Chilean search and rescue NGO Topos Chile while heavy machinery including cranes and bulldozer is being used in a bid to find a survivor.

On Thursday, the team used audio detection equipment for signals or heartbeat and detected a pulse of 18 to 19 beats per minute. The origin of the pulsing signal was not immediately known but it was enough to set off the frantic search and raised new hope.

“Ninety-nine percent there isn’t anything, but even if there is less than one percent hope, we should keep on looking,” said Youssef Malah, a civil defense worker. He said his men would continue working throughout the night, adding that the work is extremely sensitive.

A Chilean volunteer, however, said their equipment identifies breathing and heartbeat from humans, not animals, and it detected a sign of a human. The worker who identified himself as Francesco Lermonda said it is rare, but not unheard of, for someone to survive under the rubble for a month.

At least, two days after the deadly explosion, a French rescue team and Lebanese civil defense volunteers had looked into the rubble of the very same building, where the ground floor used to be a bar. At the time, they had no reason to believe there were any bodies or survivors left at the site.

Earlier, a blast tore through Beirut when nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate ignited at the port. As a result of the explosion, 191 people were killed while 6,000 suffered injuries. In addition, several homes and vehicles were also destroyed in the blast. The explosion is considered to be one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded.