LEBANON: AT LEAST THREE PEOPLE ARE KILLED IN BUILDING COLLAPSE IN CENTRE OF BEIRUT/ AT LEAST SEVEN PEOPLE INJURED IN FIRE AT PAINT FACTORY IN NAAMAH

Record ID: 216706

  • Title: LEBANON: AT LEAST THREE PEOPLE ARE KILLED IN BUILDING COLLAPSE IN CENTRE OF BEIRUT/ AT LEAST SEVEN PEOPLE INJURED IN FIRE AT PAINT FACTORY IN NAAMAH
  • Date: 23rd March 2002
  • Summary: (W4) BEIRUT, LEBANON (MARCH 23, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV: LEBANESE SOLDIERS CORDONING OFF AREA / AMBULANCE WORKERS MOVING INJURED MAN AWAY ON STRETCHER 0.10 2. PAN: COLLAPSED BUILDING 0.16 3. SV: RESCUE WORKERS DIGGING FOR PEOPLE 0.21 4. MV: SOLDIERS BLOCKING OFF AREA 0.29 5. MV: RESCUE WORKERS 0.34 6. MV:
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEIRUT AND NAAMEH, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA421U71C1QLU3GBXVR3K3540SA
  • Story Text: At least three people were crushed to death when a
    building collapsed in the centre of Beirut. In a town south of
    the Lebanese capital, a paint factory was on fire, injuring at
    least seven people.



    At least three people were crushed to death when a
    building housing a school collapsed in a crowded commercial
    district in Beirut, showering the street below with chunks of
    concrete, witnesses and officials said.

    Grey plumes of dust swirled from metres-high piles of
    rubble which filled the building's cellar and flattened
    several cars in front of the building. Rescue workers were
    seen pulling two corpses from the wreckage and a third from a
    crushed car.

    Twisted, bleeding bodies peeked out from gaps in the heaps
    of jagged concrete, and rescue workers said at least 12 other
    people might still be trapped in the rubble.

    Scores of rescue workers milled around the site in the
    Cornich al-Mazraa neighbourhood, where the Lebanese army used
    bulldozers to try to unearth cars flattened by falling debris.

    It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse of
    the building, which had been having its facade restored.

    Witnesses said several of the construction workers were
    crushed by debris from the eight-storey building.

    The building housed a school, but there were conflicting
    reports about whether children were in the building when it
    collapsed. Witnesses said students were present on Saturday
    morning, but a Lebanese security source said it had been
    empty.

    Many Lebanese schools have been closed in advance of the
    March 27-28 Arab League summit due to security precautions
    that are expected to bring traffic to a standstill and make
    school journeys impossible.

    Lebanon has seen a flurry of construction as it rebuilds
    from its 1975-1990 civil war, and residents of new buildings
    often complain the structures are unsound. At least four
    people were killed in a 1999 building collapse east of Beirut.


    In Naameh, a town 20 kilometres south of Beirut, a paint
    factory was on fire. Seven people were reported to be injured.

    The cause of the fire is still unknown.


    bl/os

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