A Lebanon nurse has rightfully gained viral attention after she was pictured cradling three newborn babies who she had protected during the devastating Beirut explosion .
The unnamed woman who works at Al Roum Hospital was photographed by photojournalist Bilal Jawich in the aftermath of the deadly blast which killed more than 150 and injured thousands of others.
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On Wednesday, one day after the warehouse exploded, Jawich shared the photo of the nurse and the babies on Facebook where it quickly went viral.
“16 years of photojournalism and a lot of wars. I can say I did not see what I saw today in the Ashrafieh area, especially in front of the Roum Hospital,” he captioned the translated post . “This ‘heroine’ inside the hospital caught me and was rushing to call despite the pauses in communications while she was holding three newborn children surrounded by dozens of dead and wounded people.”
As of writing, the photo of the visibly shaken nurse surrounding by debris and holding the infants has been shared more than 5,000 times and has over 6,500 reactions from users.
Jawich later revealed more about his interaction with the nurse, and told of her incredible rescue during the terrifying explosion.
In an interview with CNN , he explained that he had been on the outskirts of Beirut when the explosion sent a shock wave through the city that leveled buildings and was felt over 100 miles away.
“I followed the smoke until I reached the port of Beirut,” Jawich said, adding that it was his “professional intuition” that lead him to Al Roum Hospital.
The area had not been spared from the blast, and even the hospital had been devastated by its effects.
But it was what he found inside the facility, surrounded by dead and dying people, that made the greatest impact on the photojournalist.
“I was amazed when I saw the nurse holding three newborns,” Jawich told CNN . “I noticed the nurse’s calm, which contrasted the surrounding atmosphere just one meter away.”
He described the nurse as appearing to posses “a hidden force that gave her self-control and the ability to save those children.”
“People stand out amidst these violent and dark and evil circumstances and this nurse was up to the task,” he added.
Later, after snapping the photo of the nurse and her trio of newborn babies, Jawich took a moment to talk to the woman about her experience with the blast.
As she relayed to him, she had been working in the hospital’s maternity ward when the warehouse first caught fire and then exploded.
The blast knocked her unconscious, and when she came to she “found herself carrying these three children.”
Although the nurse was able to save herself and the babies she had so heroically carried to safety, other people in the hospital unfortunately didn’t fare as well.
George Saad, emergency preparedness and disaster manager for Al Roum hospital, told CNN 12 patients, two visitors, and four nurses died as a result of the explosion. Another two nurses remain in critical condition. He also estimated that 80 percent of the hospital was damaged, as well as 50 percent of its equipment.
Saad was able to report the babies the nurse had rescued were reunited with their mothers, and all have been transferred to other hospitals.
h/t: CNN
