Lekhwiya search and rescue team rescuers returns to Doha from Beirut

  • 4 years   ago
Lekhwiya search and rescue team rescuers returns to Doha from Beirut

Qatar spared no time in assisting in Lebanon following the devastating Beirut Port Explosion on August 4, 2020.

A team of the International Search and Rescue Group from Qatar's Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya) has returned to Doha from Beirut.

The team had been deployed on the orders of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to aid Lebanese officials in their response to the explosions that shook Beirut earlier this month that killed more than 170 people.

The Qatari rescuers had worked alongside Lebanese, Russian and German counterparts at the Beirut Port where the blast took place. The chemical explosion left a 43-metre (141 foot) deep crater at the site, devastating large parts of the Lebanese capital

The blast, which was felt across the county and as far as the island of Cyprus, was recorded by the sensors of the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) as having the power of a magnitude 3.3 earthquake.

It was triggered by a fire in a port warehouse, where a huge shipment of hazardous ammonium nitrate, a chemical that can be used as a fertiliser or as an explosive, had languished for years, according to authorities.

The huge blast also wounded thousands of people and displaced more than 300,000 from their destroyed or damaged homes.

Qatar has also sent several planeloads of medical supplies, including two field hospitals, and other aid materials to Beirut.

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