The parents of a baby who was delivered by torchlight in a hospital destroyed by the Beirut port explosion have described their son as a “ray of light in the darkness”.
Emmanuelle Lteif Khnaisser went into labour just as one of the largest explosions in history engulfed the city, crashing window frames, broken glass and ceiling tiles on to her hospital bed.
The 29-year-old lawyer gave birth to her first child in the corridor of St George Hospital University Medical Centre, surrounded by dust, debris and casualties from the blast.
“It was the happiest moment in my life and the ugliest one at the same time,” her husband, Edmond, recalled.
The couple said their baby, George, had become “a symbol of life” to the people of Lebanon despite the country’s multitude of troubles in the months since the blast, which claimed 22 lives at St George Hospital.
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“Many took strength from him after the blast . . . We met people whose houses were destroyed and had lost a lot. When they meet George, you see the smile on their face,” Edmond said.
Like many Lebanese, Emmanuelle said they had had difficulties finding milk and medicine for their baby amid worsening shortages of basic goods across the country.
“For a period after the blast you feel you are still living in shock, you still don’t realise what happened to you,” she said. “When George was born, I did not believe that he was crying. When they put him on my chest, I was feeling very guilty and told him ‘I’m sorry that you had to be born this way’, but at the end of the day you have to get up on your feet. I have my baby and I can’t look weak in front of him.”
