Tragic Explosion in Beirut Restaurant on Labor Day: Nine Dead, Four Injured

A day will come a working day In Lebanon, the day after a tragic event due to the explosion of a restaurant in Beirut, which killed nine people while injuring four others, including employees and Lebanese and non-Lebanese workers. According to the information available, two gas bottles exploded in a restaurant in the capital, Beirut, for unknown reasons, until the report was written. The largest number of victims were mourned explode In their villages, today, Thursday, amid great sadness and anger.

Swallow Musa Dankour, Walid Dankor’s cousin who died in the incident, tells the story of the magnitude of the tragedy that befell their family. He told Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed: “We lost Walid, a young man of twenty-eight years of age. He says that “Walid was moving his only son between hospitals, to give him the appropriate treatment. in a hurry

Moussa said, “Walid worked in a gas bottling and distribution company in Beirut. Yesterday (Tuesday), his colleagues were with him, delivering four bottles of gas to the restaurant where the explosion happened, and we still do not know the reasons. .” While Moussa says, “We heard that there was a gas leak,” he adds that the case could involve “carelessness or negligence, but we are waiting to reveal accurate data through the ongoing investigations.” He confirms that the explosion of a restaurant in Beirut is a “true tragedy”, and explains that “a fire ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​behind Walid and his colleagues works towards the entrance to the restaurant, which led them to flee inside and then go towards the basement. a room that looked like a warehouse So, they were stuck at the bottom and died of suffocation. “

In the same context, Abbas Harmoush, the uncle of the deceased Hussein Harmoush, talks about “the level of pain that happened to the family. He told Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, “Hussein is 33 years old and the father of two daughters. for about four years, because they were delivering gas bottles.” At the same time, Ayman Harmoush, Hussein’s cousin, says that his brother-in-law “was a hard worker who worked long hours diligently, to secure the livelihood of his family during our youth.” He says they are waiting for the results of the investigation, before they “move to file legal action against those responsible for the explosion.”

Regarding Dr. Mohsen Assi, 27-year-old Aya Marmar’s uncle, who died in the same explosion, he speaks warmly of his nephew, who was not expected to live his whole life. He told Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed “she was working in marketing at the restaurant, and she had only moved about a month ago to its branch in Beirut, after working in the branch in the suburbs of Beirut. ” Assi explains, “Aya’s last day at work in the Capital branch was yesterday, and fate wanted it to be the last day of her life.”

In a related context, the head of the Public Relations Department of the Beirut Fire Brigade, Captain Ali Najm, reported to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, today, Thursday, that “a member of the regiment is among the four who went injured” who was injured in the explosion of a restaurant in Beirut yesterday, explaining that “The investigations and the technical and field investigation will determine the causes and show whether the incident was belief, natural or certain.”

For his part, the Executive Director of the Lebanese Observatory for Workers and Workers’ Rights, Ahmed Al-Dirani, spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed about “a real disaster.” He believes it is “very unfortunate that on the eve of Labor Day we saw the fall of innocent victims, hardworking people who were trying to make a living for their families who were left to the fate and destiny” in the explosion of a restaurant in Beirut yesterday. He said: “It is not enough that workers in Lebanon suffer as a result of low wages and their failure the rise amid the fall of the national currency.

Al-Dirani confirmed that he is waiting for the results of the investigation, but regrets the “lack of supervision and investigation by the relevant authorities,” noting that “yesterday’s incident is evidence of the lack of protective measures of work and safety, despite the fact that the Lebanese Labor Law seeks to provide a safe and secure working environment.” He held “the main responsibility of the Ministry of Labor, whose tasks are to monitor the degree to which restaurants comply with the conditions and specifications of public safety, as well as the Department of Health in the capital and Beirut Municipality. “

While Al-Dirani expresses his regret that “the branch related to the labor crisis in the National Social Security Fund has not been established until today, even though it was approved several years ago decades,” he says that his observatory works in partnership with trade unions. alliances for a comprehensive change in Lebanese labor law, especially in terms of occupational safety measures and protection against dismissal or -regular and unsafe working conditions.”