Three firefighters, all related, went missing after responding to a fire that preceded last week’s huge explosion in Beirut. Their family was praying they would turn up alive. Now they’re just hoping their remains will be found.
Tony Karam’s son, grandson, and cousin were all part of the same firefighter unit that rushed to Beirut’s port after it caught fire. Minutes later, the site became ground zero for a massive explosion that left much of the city in ruins.
“We are hoping they can bring [even]a nail from their fingers,” Tony told RT.
Karam’s son, Charbel, had two daughters, the oldest just two-and-a-half years old. The toddler keeps asking for her father, his mother Karlen said. Pausing to collect herself, the widow explained that she told her daughter she can pray to her father and that he can hear here.
She initially hoped her husband would be discovered alive, even if badly injured. “But they didn’t find anything,” she said as she closed her eyes.
The family is still waiting for closure, and won’t hold a funeral until there is someone, or something, to bury. The remains of four firefighters from the same unit have been identified, but there’s still no trace of the three heroic relatives.
“People cannot tell us ‘rest in peace’, because there is no one to rest in peace,” said Karam. “God help me – I don’t know how to live anymore.”
The explosion killed more than 200 people and injured countless others. It’s believed that 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in unsafe conditions by officials triggered the devastating blast. On Monday, Beirut governor Marwan Abboud claimed that some 110 people remain missing.
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