Death toll in Beirut building collapse rises to 20
Using cranes, bulldozers and their bare hands, Lebanese rescue workers searched the rubble today of a five-story residential building that collapsed after days of heavy rains, killing at least 20 people.
Most of the dead were foreign workers living in Lebanon. The owner of the building was arrested today, a day after the collapse.
"The ground shook like an earthquake, that's what we all thought," said Mazen Farhat, 46, who lives in the area and was passing by when the building collapsed. "I heard screams, and then the dust was everywhere, and I ran," he said as he stood among dozens of people watching the rescue efforts.
Building collapses in Lebanon are rare, and officials said the cause was not yet clear. It is possible that cracks in the old building were made worse by heavy rain or the effects of several nearby construction sites.
Some residents reported hearing a small blast earlier this week, which turned out to be the snap of a pillar in the building.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said the building's owner, Michel Saadeh, was arrested and was being questioned.
Red Cross and civil defense workers in bright orange uniforms pulled out several bodies on stretchers today, rushing them away as relatives gasped and cried softly.
Rescue efforts were complicated yesterday by heavy rains and a thunderstorm.
Some 50 tenants lived in the building in Beirut's Fassouh district of Ashrafieh. It collapsed at around 6 pm(local time) yesterday as residents were returning home from work, increasing the number casualties, officials said.
The victims included eight Sudanese, two Filipinos, two Egyptians and two Jordanians, according to the security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Six Lebanese, including 15-year-old Anne Marie Abdel Karim, also died.
