The man who shot the infamous video of the horrific explosion that shook Beirut said he was afraid he would die on the spot after it shook when his shock wave hit his coffee pot and knocked him off his balcony to his apartment, according to a report.
Abdallah Rashidi, 26, a former British university student, started setting fire to a warehouse in the Lebanese capital’s port moments before the cataclysmic explosion sent a giant mushroom cloud to the sky, the Daily Mail reported.
“When you see the explosion slowly approaching you, you think you’re dead,” said Rashidi, who drank coffee on his balcony in the Sodeco neighborhood several miles from the epicenter, according to the outlet.
‘People did not believe the video actually happened when I sent it. It seems like it’s really from a movie, it’s completely unimaginable. “Part of me is still in denial,” he said.
Rashidi said he even saw a group of doomed arsonists responding to the fire right before the epic explosion.
“It simply came to our notice then. It was slowly expanding and I was just fresh. In my head I just thought, ‘It’s gonna hurt me,’ he said. ‘You could see buildings pulling apart and crawling. Thoughts flashing through my mind – ‘Will it bother me? Shall I die? ‘”
After Rashidi blew several feet into his house, he said not sure if he was dreaming or had died.
“There was this white flash, and I heard people screaming,” said Rashidi, who shared the horrific video with friends on WhatsApp before making his way online, the Daily Mail reported.
Despite his immediate fears, neither he nor his napping father, Fouad, 54, were injured, the outlet reported, but she fled amid fears the block would collapse.
“We thought the apartment building could be dirty, we act on instinct,” recalled Rashidi, who was driving to his family home south of the devastated city.
‘We thought it was the beginning of a war with the rumors. I have emptied some of my memory, ”he admitted.
He returned the next day to a scene of post-apocalyptic destruction.
“What you see on TV is nothing compared to what you see in person,” he said. “You can see body parts everywhere, cars on their roof with people dead inside.
‘Seeing all the body parts on the ground was so overwhelming. You could see people looking for their families and just seeing body parts scattered everywhere, “he added.
Rashidi studied for his master’s degree in English and linguistics at Coventry University and later worked as an English lecturer on the school’s new campus in New Cairo, Egypt, the Daily Mail reported.
He moved back to Beirut at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, and has now completed the dissertation for his degree.
“I want to share awareness, I want people to donate, I want people to help in any way they can,” he said. “The Lebanese people have suffered enough.
“We were in the middle of an economic crisis, there was political corruption going on,” Rashidi added. “Beirut has been destroyed and rebuilt seven times, this is like the eighth.”
On Monday, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab stepped in amid widespread unrest over the blast, which killed more than 200 people and injured about 6,000, and declared the government fired.
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