7 bodies pulled from rubble

Press, 8 July 1983, Page 6

7 bodies pulled from rubble

NZPA-Reuter Beirut The bodies of five French soldiers and two Lebanese workers have been recovered from the rubble of a collapsed west Beirut building said Lebanese security officials last evening (N.Z. time). One French solder and two Lebanese workers were pulled out alive and one person, who was not identified, was still missing, they said. Rescue operations were continuing yesterday. A statement from the French unit attached to the four-nation multi-national force, whose men were in the incident, said that one of those injured was in grave condition. The soldiers, who had been preparing to demolish the building, were on the ground floor and the Lebanese workmen were on an upper storey when it collapsed. The statement said that the collapse was the result of “natural causes.” The soldiers from a Foreign Legion parachute regiment stationed in Beirut as part of a four-nation peace-keeping force, had been planting explosives to bring down the building in a controlled blast when it collapsed.