Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Tall Building Collapses in Beirut, Heavy Casualties Feared
ap ^ | Mar 23, 2002

Posted on 03/23/2002 3:11:27 AM PST by TomGuy

Tall Building Collapses in Beirut, Heavy Casualties Feared

The Associated Press

Published: Mar 23, 2002



BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A seven-story building collapsed in Beirut on Saturday, with first reports indicating scores of casualties, security officials said.

The building, located in Mazraa district - a traditionally Muslim sector of Beirut - "turned into a pile of rubble," crushing nearby cars, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The building was a school undergoing a renovation, and the victims were workers and passers-by along the busy Corniche el-Mazraa, one of the city's main thoroughfares.

Lebanese television showed rescue workers removing at least five people from the site on stretchers.

More than 50 police officers searched the rubble for survivors, officials said.

Weekend rush-hour traffic in the area was halted to allow rescuers and ambulances to reach the site.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.

AP-ES-03-23-02 0640EST


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: beruit; buildingcollapse
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-71 next last

1 posted on 03/23/2002 3:11:27 AM PST by TomGuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
Obviously an Israeli plot.

< / sarcasm >

2 posted on 03/23/2002 3:47:50 AM PST by JZoback
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
Who knew they had a tall building?
3 posted on 03/23/2002 3:58:15 AM PST by dead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dead
well, they don't any more, unless you count that 2-story outhouse.
4 posted on 03/23/2002 4:27:34 AM PST by fnord
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: dead
Your post #3 -- LOL
5 posted on 03/23/2002 4:46:55 AM PST by TwoStep
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.

Gravity, perhaps.

6 posted on 03/23/2002 4:59:34 AM PST by jigsaw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fnord
Can't be, it's still standing.;^)


7 posted on 03/23/2002 5:02:41 AM PST by Kermit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
A seven-story building collapsed in Beirut on Saturday, with first reports indicating scores of casualties...

I'm still waiting for CNN to show pictures of people dancing in the streets of lower Manhattan.

8 posted on 03/23/2002 5:07:47 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets; TomGuy
..... I'm still waiting for CNN to show pictures of people dancing in the streets of lower Manhattan.

Gee whiz.

You're a mean one, Man!

[I rather like that about you!]

Took the bloody words right out of my head!

9 posted on 03/23/2002 5:15:13 AM PST by Brian Allen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets
A seven-story building collapsed in Beirut on Saturday, with first reports indicating scores of casualties...

I'm still waiting for CNN to show pictures of people dancing in the streets of lower Manhattan.

Now THAT is Post of the Day material!

}:-)4

10 posted on 03/23/2002 5:16:05 AM PST by Moose4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets
I just hope this building wasn't full of Lebaness Christians. They have a lot of those in Lebanon.
11 posted on 03/23/2002 5:19:23 AM PST by Clara Lou
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Clara Lou
Darn-- "Lebanese"
12 posted on 03/23/2002 5:20:04 AM PST by Clara Lou
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
sad -- prayers for the victims...
13 posted on 03/23/2002 5:20:36 AM PST by ellery
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
I thought all the tall buildings collapsed long ago...????
14 posted on 03/23/2002 5:21:12 AM PST by Chad Fairbanks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets
Oh man...that was good!!! ;-)
15 posted on 03/23/2002 5:23:22 AM PST by DJ88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Clara Lou
I grew up with alot of Lebanese in my hometown in Penna. They were all Christian.
16 posted on 03/23/2002 5:23:48 AM PST by MadelineZapeezda
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
Sky News

Several people are feared dead after a building collapsed in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Reports indicate at least five people were crushed to death.

Many were trapped under large chunks of concrete as debris fell onto a street in a crowded commercial district on Saturday.

Crushed

Witnesses said several construction workers who had been restoring part of the building in the Corniche al-Mazraa neighbourhood were crushed.

The number of casualties is not immediately clear.

Television stations reported at least five people had been killed, but there was no confirmation of that toll.

Ambulances rushed to the scene, where Lebanese television showed rescue workers struggling to pull people from beneath jagged chunks of debris.

17 posted on 03/23/2002 5:24:48 AM PST by csvset
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jigsaw
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known..

Sheesh...I supposse that it just decided to fall on it's own. Maybe it was just DEGENERATED.

Then again, maybe it was another plot by the Evil Americans. /sarcasm off.

18 posted on 03/23/2002 5:25:46 AM PST by DJ88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: csvset
From what I can see of the building in the picture, it looks like it just imploded. Prayers for the victims.
19 posted on 03/23/2002 5:26:58 AM PST by DJ88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
(From BBC)

Saturday, 23 March, 2002, 13:25 GMT

Fatalities in Beirut building collapse

A multi-storey building has collapsed in the Lebanese capital Beirut, killing at least two people and injuring scores.

The building reportedly collapsed forwards, sending debris flying down the street, crushing several passers-by and vehicles.

The building, a seven-storey school, is located on the Corniche Mazraa, a busy boulevard in a densely populated area of the city. It "turned into a pile of rubble", officials said.

The cause of the collapse, which occurred at 1230 (1030 GMT), is not yet known. But construction workers had been carrying out restoration work on the building.

Trapped victims

The remains of two people have so far been removed from the site, but there is speculation that more may be trapped inside.

Police said approximately 15 of the construction workers were in the building when the incident occurred.

Passers-by were hit by falling debris

There are conflicting reports about whether the school was in use at the time of the collapse. Some witnesses say the school had not been in use for many years, after it was damaged in the 1975-90 civil war.

But some have been saying that the building had recently been re-occupied by a school and renovations begun.

Weekend rush-hour traffic was halted on the main Mazraa highway to allow emergency services to reach the site and Lebanese television showed rescue workers and neighbours struggling to pull people from beneath the debris.

Workers used pneumatic drills to break up concrete slabs that had fallen on two cars, which rescue workers said contained people.

Bulldozers are moving in to start clearing debris.

Rescue workers managed to pull one man out of the rubble alive. He was in a state of shock but appeared to be uninjured.

The BBC's correspondent in Beirut says the emergency services are being hampered by the crowds of hundreds of people who have gathered to witness the spectacle.

20 posted on 03/23/2002 5:33:58 AM PST by blam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy

21 posted on 03/23/2002 5:35:01 AM PST by blam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MadelineZapeezda
I grew up with alot of Lebanese in my hometown in Penna. They were all Christian.

Would that be Lebanon County, PA?

22 posted on 03/23/2002 5:43:50 AM PST by Fifth Business
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Fifth Business
"Now THAT is Post of the Day material!"

come folks, it is a bad thing that happened. don't forget have a LITTLE heart.

23 posted on 03/23/2002 5:46:16 AM PST by paulsy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: MadelineZapeezda
I grew up with alot of Lebanese in my hometown in Penna. They were all Christian.

That would be Lebanon, PA. I like your baloney.

Actually I used to patronize a garage owned by a family whose roots I was uncertain of. One Day, during the Gulf War I went inside to pay and noticed that the cashier/owner/brother was intently watching the Live Fire Air Power Demonstration over Iraq intently. Turns out he was a Lebanese Christian and was rooting for the F-117A's against the SAM's.

I grew up in Queens, NY (Jamaica, more specifically). When the Italian family that owned the local grocery store got tired of getting robbed at gun point every week they sold out to a family of Lebanese of the self-preservation persuasion. The Lebanese kept 9-mm's under each cash register and weren't afraid to show them. Needless to say the robberies soon stopped. On July 13, 1977 during the NYC black out when there was widespread rioting and looting they sat outside their store on lawn chairs with long rifles. Needless to say they didn't suffer any looting. They were God's own II-Admendment advocates.

24 posted on 03/23/2002 5:56:22 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets
Good post. Some of the finest people you will ever meet are Lebanese-Americans. It is a shame what has happened to their country, but we in the US have been enriched by their presence here.
25 posted on 03/23/2002 6:02:14 AM PST by Montfort
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Montfort
Some famous Lebanese who made good in America:

Danny Thomas

Kasey Kasem, radio personality and rock and roll guru

Benny Hinn, TV Evangelist

26 posted on 03/23/2002 6:28:49 AM PST by lexington minuteman 1775
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
they were probably modifying the building somehow to cause its collapse;
27 posted on 03/23/2002 6:39:08 AM PST by Red Jones
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
I would think this was an OLD building that probably couldn't be renovated
28 posted on 03/23/2002 7:00:48 AM PST by GeronL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Moose4;RJayneJ
So whatdid you think was post of the day material??
29 posted on 03/23/2002 7:02:23 AM PST by GeronL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: blam
wow. that is awful
30 posted on 03/23/2002 7:04:06 AM PST by GeronL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
Building codes? We don't need no stinkin building codes!

7 stories of mud works just fine!

Its the 8th that does the damage.

31 posted on 03/23/2002 7:07:55 AM PST by US_MilitaryRules
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MadelineZapeezda; lexington minuteman 1775; Lonesome in Massachussets; Montfort; Fifth Business
As I recall, Lebanon was the most progressive and cosmopolitan place in all of the Arab world for many years, lots of US and French influence. I think the American University there was also the absolute best.

I heard somewhere recently that most of the Lebanese Christian have been killed or left the country.

32 posted on 03/23/2002 7:16:36 AM PST by elfman2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: elfman2
I heard somewhere recently that most of the Lebanese Christian have been killed or left the country.
True or not, I can't think of a single reason why any American, in Manhattan or elsewhere, would celebrate the collapse of a building and resultant deaths. (see post upthread) Besides, what does Beirut have to do with the WTC?
33 posted on 03/23/2002 7:25:56 AM PST by Clara Lou
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

Comment #34 Removed by Moderator

To: TomGuy
They'll blame the U.S. They didn't receive enough foreign aid to shore up the building .......
35 posted on 03/23/2002 7:59:10 AM PST by b4its2late
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JZoback
Stop involving Israel in more sarcasm statement. It is enough stupidity the media does, let's prove we have intelligence.
36 posted on 03/23/2002 8:01:42 AM PST by Hila
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Clara Lou
"Besides, what does Beirut have to do with the WTC?"

He was making a joke.

37 posted on 03/23/2002 8:04:55 AM PST by elfman2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: lexington minuteman 1775
Wow, Benny Hinn a Lebanese! I have heard him claiming that he was born in Haffa and that his father was mayor in some Israeli city. Other people claim that he is from India - it would be nice to know where this evangelist really came from.
38 posted on 03/23/2002 8:04:56 AM PST by Hila
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
Shame. I'm surprised there are any buildings left in Beirut.
39 posted on 03/23/2002 8:06:01 AM PST by dr_who
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: elfman2
Really?? What about posts 9, 10, and 15?
40 posted on 03/23/2002 8:07:47 AM PST by Clara Lou
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Fifth Business
No, it wouldn't.
41 posted on 03/23/2002 8:12:03 AM PST by MadelineZapeezda
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: elfman2
You are right, the Lebanese Christians have been ethnically cleansed, the Muslims have either killed them or driven them out, and this has happened to many a country in the world.

Often these were very high quality people: it took a lot of guts to cling on and hold to Christ for all those centuries in the very teeth of Islam. Jesus' message in Rev. 2 to the church at Pergamum applies to them.

42 posted on 03/23/2002 8:13:33 AM PST by crystalk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
Too much water. Not enough Portland cement.
43 posted on 03/23/2002 8:17:04 AM PST by bert
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hila
No, my info is that Benny Hinn is from the Middle East, but apparently never Jewish by Halakha. He is a Christian now of course, and apparently was never a Muslim either, so I guess that means he was already Christian by birth, whether from S Lebanon or Northern Israel...

There is a prominent Christian evangelist from India, last name Zacharias, 1st name Ravi?? who is supposedly a legally Jewish (Hindu in sense of 1st definition "a native or inhabitant of India") but now Christian evangelist, so that may be who you are thinking of.

44 posted on 03/23/2002 8:19:24 AM PST by crystalk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: JZoback
Arab building project?
45 posted on 03/23/2002 8:20:36 AM PST by Righty1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
"This bolt boss?"
46 posted on 03/23/2002 8:25:50 AM PST by PatrioticAmerican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hila
Stop involving Israel in more sarcasm statement. It is enough stupidity the media does, let's prove we have intelligence.

Err, isn't that the point of sarcasm?

As for intelligence. It would seem I know the definition of sarcasm and you don't.

47 posted on 03/23/2002 8:39:25 AM PST by JZoback
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets
That would be Lebanon, PA. I like your baloney.

I never said Lebanon, Pa. But Mt. Lebanon was near our home.

We'd frequent the Lebanese-American club...they had the best kibbe, grape leaves and lamb. (no baloney)

48 posted on 03/23/2002 8:52:32 AM PST by MadelineZapeezda
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: jigsaw
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. Gravity, perhaps.

I know! It's the American Airlines flight 77! Remember from earlier posts: it never hit the Pentagon! It had to come down somewhere!

Take The Pentagon Boeing Test

< /smart@$$>

49 posted on 03/23/2002 9:37:17 AM PST by Gamecock
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
May God bless these people..........and especially the victims' families. What a terrible thing...........
50 posted on 03/23/2002 9:42:28 AM PST by RightOnline
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-71 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson