Crystal had just given birth to a healthy baby boy and she and her husband Jade were enjoying their first time as parents when they felt the Al Roum hospital building in Beirut shake before a deafening noise shattered everything around them. shock. Jade immediately took his son in her arms to protect him and Crystal was left lying on a bed full of broken glass to worry about her child's fate. While celebrating the miracle of life, Jade and Crystal Shawya were confronted with death itself, as evidenced by the photo of the young father sitting on the floor of the corridor holding his newborn son tightly on the bloodstains. his clothes, a few minutes after the deadly explosion in Beirut.
"It was a very difficult situation. We were in the room when the explosion occurred. We did not understand what had happened. Everything fell apart, nothing was left in place. "I quickly hugged my child to protect him and ran to find a corner to hide as I was afraid of a second explosion," said Jad Savaya in a telephone interview with the Athenian / Macedonian News Agency in Beirut. His "broken" voice betrays the intensity of the moments that he and his wife experienced last Tuesday, when 2.750 tons of ammonium nitrate were exploded, spreading terror and death in "little Paris of the East".
Minutes later, Jade returned to the room to help his wife get out of the hospital as everything around them collapsed. Having given birth just a quarter of an hour ago, Crystal had to gather whatever strength she had left to go down five floors with the stairs, in the panic that prevailed everywhere. "We did not know what really happened. "Everything around us was damaged, blood and injuries everywhere," said the young father, who was only thinking at the time of transporting his wife and son to another hospital that had not been hit by the blast. "In that moment of utter chaos we found the strength to think we had to do something and so we went to another hospital, where we were happily accepted," notes Jade, recalling the anguish of their families, who watched in shock. .
"Doctors and nurses are our heroes"
But those to whom the young couple will owe eternal gratitude, as he characteristically says, are the doctors and nursing staff of St George Hospital in Beirut or Al Roum as it is widely known, after they helped and cared for them despite they themselves had been injured. "They are heroes. I can not describe in words how grateful I am for everything they did for us ", underlines the father of little Nabil, as is the name of the little boy, who before seeing the light of day saw the darkness of one of the worst tragedies Lebanon has experienced in its modern history.
These dark moments will forever be etched in the memory of Crystal and Jade but now that the initial shock is somewhat over, since they have now returned home and are all in good health, they are already thinking about the next day. "We must continue to fight to build a beautiful future for our son. "What we are thinking about is whether we should stay here or go elsewhere," says the young father.
Similar stories, such as those of Jade and Crystal, emerge daily from the wreckage of Beirut, vividly capturing the horror and agony of all those who lived through the tragedy with at least 154 dead. According to the World Health Organization, more than 5.000 are injured, 130 of whom are in intensive care, while an estimated 300.000 are forced to flee their homes, which have been either completely destroyed or extensively damaged. are in dire need of housing and food supplies. All this at a time when five hospitals in the Lebanese capital are either completely closed due to damage from the blast or are significantly underperforming, making it necessary to transport the injured to other hospitals in the country.
Source: RES-EAP