A neighborhood of Ouzai in Beirut's southern suburbs. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — A Sudanese man was killed in explosion in a scrapyard in Beirut's southern suburb of Ouzai Friday, a security source confirmed for L’Orient Today Saturday.
"The [man's remains were] transported to Baabda Governmental Hospital Saturday by civil defense," a civil defense spokesperson told L’Orient Today. No further injuries were reported.
Othman Obeid Haraka, a member of the Sudanese Club administrative staff, who serves as a liaison between the club and the Sudanese embassy, told L’Orient Today that he had gone to the hospital morgue Friday to identify the victim’s remains.
The Sudanese Club is Lebanon’s largest social and cultural club for the Sudanese community
Haraka said Lebanese authorities told him the deceased was named Imam Ahmad Haroun, a man in his mid-30s, who had been working in Lebanon for about nine years. His wife and toddler, a boy, also live in Lebanon.
“They believe it was unexploded ordinance at the scrapyard that killed him,” Haraka told L’Orient Today, “but the investigation is still ongoing.”
He will be buried in Lebanon after the investigation is complete.
Dafa'ullah Ahmad, a Sudanese laborer and a member of Lebanon's Sudanese Club also confirmed Haroun's death. He told L'Orient Today he and Haroun are from the same village in Sudan's al-Jazeera state and their families are in touch.
A source from the Sudanese embassy, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to provide information as the investigation was still ongoing.
Speaking with L'Orient Today, the victim's nephew Saleh Ibrahim, who also lives in Lebanon, spoke fondly of his uncle. "He was a normal guy" he said. "He was kind, and loved by others."