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
< / sarcasm >
Gravity, perhaps.
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!
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
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.
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.
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.
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