Lebanon’s Ambassador to Turkey, Ghassan Al-Moallem, confirmed that “search work is still ongoing for the two missing Lebanese, Elias Haddad and Muhammad Al-Muhammad, specifically at the hotel site in Turkey where they were located, and where the Lebanese citizen, Basil Habqouq, also left safely.”
He said in an interview with “Voice of All Lebanon”: “We have been informed of about sixty or seventy names with whom we have lost contact until the moment.” He divided the Lebanese community present in the area hit by the earthquake into three categories, “The first category is 130 people registered with the Turkish embassy, and most of them are fine.” The second category are Lebanese who are in Turkey and are not registered with the embassy, and there is no communication or contact with them, and the third category is those who are on a business visit or for a short period in the country.
Al-Moallem pointed out that “the embassy is working day and night to find out the fate of the last Lebanese in Turkey,” speaking of “close cooperation between the Turkish rescue agencies working on the ground and the Lebanese embassy in Turkey.”
He praised the Lebanese rescue team, consisting of officers and members of the Engineering Regiment of the Lebanese Army, the Lebanese Red Cross, the Beirut Fire Brigade, the Civil Defense, and the Disaster Authority, “which has done a tremendous job and is working in the area most affected by the earthquake called the Bustan area in Kahramanmaraş,” pointing out That “this team discovered new methods to rescue people from under the rubble and was able to save many lives, and was congratulated by the Turkish authorities.”
