26 Dead in Ashrafiyeh Bldg. Collapse, Govt. Orders Probe, Compensations
The death toll from the collapse of a six-storey building Sunday in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood of Fassouh rose to 26 on Monday, officials said, with more people still trapped under the rubble.
Meanwhile, the cabinet announced it would grant compensation of 30 million Lebanese pounds (20,000 dollars) to the family of each victim as well as accommodation aid to families who had been living in the collapsed building.
The cabinet also formed a commission of inquiry headed by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and tasked it with unveiling the disaster’s circumstances and submitting a report about the collapse-prone buildings across the country.
The commission was also asked to submit suggestions on equipping the Civil Defense Department with the necessary machines to confront such calamities.
"Until now, 26 bodies have been recovered and we believe there are more buried under the building that collapsed Sunday evening," Red Cross official Georges Kettaneh told Agence France Presse on Monday evening.
The head of the General Security Department, Brig. Gen. Raymond Khattar, said earlier that by Monday afternoon the bodies of seven Lebanese, seven Sudanese, three Filipinas and two Egyptians were retrieved from the rubble of the six-storey apartment building in the neighborhood of Fassouh that was built in the 1940s.
Later on Monday, several media outlets said rescuers managed to retrieve the bodies of Lebanese victims Maroun Saad, Alice Saad, Farhat Noaim, Tanious Noaim, Charbel Noaim and Jeanette Abi Serhal.
In Amman, the foreign ministry spokesman said three Jordanians were killed: Farah Khalil Baqleh, his wife and their grandson Laith Charlie Baqleh.
The building housed some 50 people, many of them laborers from Sudan and Egypt, Khattar said, adding that at least eight people were known to have escaped as the building came down.
Eleven others were rescued and taken to nearby hospitals a day earlier. None of them was seriously injured.
No survivors were found during rescue efforts on Monday.
Around 10 people were still missing. But rescuers began facing a new hurdle in the afternoon after heavy rains lashed the area.
Premier Najib Miqati ordered the formation of a team of experts to probe the incident after witnesses said that the building’s owner, Michel Saadeh, had warned them not to stay in their apartments on Sunday night.
A witness, Gladiss Noaim, told LBC TV on Monday morning that the residents heard an explosion during Christmas which turned out to be cracks in one of the building’s foundations.
Noaim said that she and her mother were leaving their apartment on the first floor when the debris began pouring on them. Her father and three brothers were still under the rubble, she said.
Authorities are now questioning Saadeh to find out whether the incident was due to his neglect or the construction of a new building near the old structure.
Nearby buildings were evacuated on Sunday night upon the request of the security forces, LBC reported.
Ministerial sources told An Nahar daily that the cabinet would discuss the incident from outside its already packed agenda on Monday.
The sources said the issue of public safety will become a priority and the government will take all necessary and urgent measures to deal with hundreds or thousands of similar cases in Beirut and other areas.
Old buildings should be routinely inspected to avoid such a tragedy, they told An Nahar.
Bilal Hamad, the head of Beirut municipality, urged all residents to alert authorities should they suspect any danger in their neighborhoods and said a team of experts would soon begin to inspect buildings across the capital, many of which are built illegally or have had storeys added without proper permits.
"We will immediately deal with concerns over old buildings, some of which are ticking time bombs," Hamad told a news conference.
"I ask all residents, whether tenants or owners, to inform the municipality if they have any doubts about the safety of their building."
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