Israa Seblani looks beautiful in a white gown and a long veil. She looks down with a smile on her face as the camera zooms in, and then moves down to showcase her veil which flows all the way to the ground. But just as Mahmoud Nakib, the videographer, pans the camera to a pristine bouquet of white flowers anchoring the veil on the floor, a violent gust of wind upsets the bouquet, followed within a split second by deafening rumbling and shaking of the ground.
The scene which looked sunny and pristine till then was suddenly chaotic and horrifying, and dusty from the rubble. This was the moment that the Beirut blast happened on Tuesday that was captured on what should have been a happy wedding video.
Video of bride on wedding day in Beirut captures moment massive warehouse explosion ripped through the city pic.twitter.com/ZsH20S4TGt
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 5, 2020
Three days later, Issra and her husband 34-year-old Ahmad Subeih are still grappling to process what happened on that day. In an interview to Reuters, the 29-year-old Lebanese woman said that she was very happy on her wedding day, and thought her parents would also be happy seeing her in a white dress, looking like a princess. “What happened during the explosion here – there is no word to explain ... I was shocked, I was wondering what happened, am I going to die? How am I going to die?” she said.
Issra added that when they started to walk around after the blast, the devastation that met their eyes was quite saddening. She said that she and her husband were still in shock. “I have never heard anything similar to the sound of this explosion.”
Ahmad said that they should continue with the wedding, and initially Isrra thought, why not. However, she recounted that she didn’t feel present in the moment, and was merely going through the motions of smiling and walking. Later, they also had to go to their hotel on Wednesday to take their belongings. The hotel was damaged in the blast as well, and Issra described the scene in her room as “unbelievable”.
However, she said that the only thing keeping her optimistic is that god was protecting her husband, herself and her wedding photographer, who escaped unharmed from the blast.
The Beirut blast has left at least 135 people dead and over 7,000 injured. Officials have pegged the reason for the blast on a large stash of ammonium nitrate that was housed unattended at a port for years.