Achrafieh wears black, mourning the loss of collapse victims

The black-clad city of Achrafieh mourned on Wednesday the loss of the victims of the Fassouh building’s collapse. The victims’ coffins were paraded in the streets of Achrafieh, for one last time, before they are put to rest amid pronounced grief and sorrow.   

Church bells rang, drums played and women cried out traditional chants in honor of the victims. Covered with white ribbons, Sassine Square welcomed the coffins of the three brothers Jihad, Charbel and Farhat Naiim and their father Tannious Naiim, who lost their lives under the rubble of the collapsed building.

The convoy departed from Rizk Hospital, toured the streets of Achrafieh and arrived to Sacred Heart Church in Badaro where the funerals were held. Bishop Boulos Matar, who headed the mass, said that Lebanon bows before this tragedy, urging everyone to take appropriate measures to avoid a repetition of these events. At the end of the funeral services, the sister of the three victims Gladys Naiim asked everyone to pray for her and her mother so they could weather this calamity.  

After the funeral services, the bodies were put to rest in their hometown in Jezzine. Meanwhile, only a few meters away from this tragic scene, the funeral convoy of 16-year-old Anne Marie Abd Al Karim left Saint Georges Hospital in Achrafieh towards Zahrat al-Ihsan, the victim’s school, where her friends were waiting to bid her farewell.  

In Our Lady of Entrance Monastery Church for Greek Orthodox in Achrafieh, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop Elias Aoudeh headed the mass that celebrated the departure of young Anne –Marie into the hereafter to the sounds of her mother’s cries.