A video is making waves on social media platforms showing a baby delivered in Beirut explosion as the father records the ordeal amidst a crisis.
The video shows windows of the hospital shattering just after the mother, Emmanuelle, is wheeled into the delivery room. Edmound, the father, continues to film the scene even as he’s shaken by the blast.
Baby delivered in Beirut explosion:
“My son George was born under a catastrophic blast, I did not believe we came out alive,” Edmound told Reuters.
Doctors and nurses — working in near-darkness after the explosions — were able to safely deliver the baby boy, who the couple named George, Edmound said. Edmound took photos of the entire process, later praising the hospital workers on social media, Reuters reports.
“Thank you for bringing me safely into this world,” he said on behalf of George. “I hope I can pay you back some day.”
Tuesday’s explosion, which appeared to have been caused by a blaze at a fireworks warehouse that ignited a stockpile of ammonium nitrate stored at the port, ripped through the capital city of Lebanon, killing at least 135 people and wounding thousands of others. The blast obliterated the port and sent a tide of destruction through the city centre.
“Houses, buildings, dead bodies in the streets, injuries,” said CBS News producer Sami Aouad. “Hospitals couldn’t accept more injuries and bodies because they were full. Beirut is a destroyed city. It is like a real war zone.”