The camera recorded the amazing moment when a massive explosion shook the Lebanese capital, Beirut, last Tuesday, killing 135 people and wounding more than 5,000 others. But escaping to a safe haven was everyone's goal.
Esraa - who works as a doctor in the United States - had arrived in Beirut 3 weeks ago to prepare for the wedding of the 34-year-old Lebanese businessman Ahmed Sobeih, and instead of celebrating the expected wedding night, the newlyweds faced harsh moments that will not be erased from memory.
Esraa told Reuters that she had been preparing for the wedding day two weeks ago, and she was overwhelmed with happiness like all girls, because she would get married, and because her parents would be happy to see her in a white wedding dress. Her sense of shock, and the questions that revolve in her head about what happened and whether and how she will die.
Behind her, piles of broken glass from the windows of the hotel, where she was due, lay on the floor, along with the remnants of the flowers that adorned the wedding tables.
Israa recalls the events that followed the explosion, saying that she and her groom walked in the area, and the scene was very sad, and the destruction or the sound of the explosion cannot be described.
The Lebanese bride added that she is still in a state of shock, and that she has never heard an explosion before, and that she feels very sad about what people have been exposed to and that hit Lebanon, and she added that the only thing she said when she woke up and saw the destruction that had befallen Beirut was him. Thank God I'm alive."
After the explosion, Israa and her husband tried to hold together and continue their celebration, as her husband said they had to go on and couldn't stop. But the grief was greater than their comprehension, and the husband, Ahmed Sobeih, recalls the memory of their entering the damaged hotel to retrieve their belongings and their passports, and he said that the scene in the room was unbelievable.
Sobeih added that he is waiting for a visa to travel to the United States so that he can join his wife there. Despite Israa's attachment to her homeland, Lebanon, she feels that life in it is no longer an option after last Tuesday's explosion.
Israa is still trying to seek joy in the wedding, which took a long time to prepare, but she continued that her country had suffered a lot of successive damage during the past years, and the accident had caused the death of many and the injury of thousands, but she added, "I looked forward to myself, my husband and the photographer who accompanied us at the time." The accident, and while I saw what happened to many, I found that we survived the accident safely, so I thanked God for this thing, which makes me optimistic that the happiness for which I came is still there.”
Despite the severity of the shock, the bride, Israa, did not leave the area of the accident until she examined the wounded, before leaving Saifi Square (center of Beirut) to seek safety.
