BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Stepping into the delivery room where his wife Emmanuelle was about to give birth, Edmond Khnaisser intended to capture the first moments of her son on camera.
Emmanuelle Lteif Khnaisser, who was at work at the time of the explosion of the port of Beirut, is holding her baby George at the family home in Jal el-Dib, Lebanon, 12 August 2020. REUTERS / Hannah McKay
Instead, he recorded for the moment the biggest explosion in Lebanon’s history, sending huge windows on the hospital bed of his 28-year-old wife.
‘I saw death with my own eyes … I began to feel’ is it over? “I looked around and at the ceiling, just waiting for it to fall on us,” Emmanuelle said, recalling the immediate aftermath of the massive explosion that killed 6,000 and killed more than 170 people in Beirut on August 4.
By brushing blood and broken glass, medical staff instinctively drove Emmanuelle into the hallway, fearing that another explosion might follow.
Emmanuelle said she knew she had to concentrate on giving birth.
“He needs to come to life and I need to be very strong,” she told herself.
Immediately after the explosion, Stephanie Yacoub, principal resident of obstetrics and gynecology at St. George Hospital University Medical Center, walked into the room to help a wounded nurse.
But it was too late and the nurse died. Yacoub hurried back to Emmanuelle to help her give birth, along with Professor Elie Anastasiades and a team of medics.
“There was no electricity and the sun started to set, so we knew we had to do this as soon as possible. “And with the help of people’s phone lights, he entered the world,” she told Reuters a week after the blast.
Seventeen people died at St. John’s Hospital. George was injured immediately after the blast and dozens were injured, including the mother of Edmond Khnaisser, who suffered six broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Khnaisser runs back and forth between his wife and his mother, saying he had one goal in mind, to get his new son George into safety.
When they got into strangers’ cars and the perimeter of the explosion began, the extent of the destruction began to sink.
They eventually made it to a hospital right outside the capital, where George was finally bathed and cleaned.
“George is very special. He is the light in the dark, a birth in wreck, “said Edmond. He shows photos of his son on the Instagram page he created for the boy they now call” wonder “baby George.
Additional Reporting by Hannah Ellison, Edited by Angus MacSwan
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