Fassouh Building Owners Released on Bail

Beirut’s prosecution released on Tuesday the owners of the Fassouh building that collapsed on January 15 after they paid the bail, the National News Agency reported.

Brothers Claude and Michel Saadeh were released on a LL75 million bail each, which was raised from LL40 million.

Beirut Examining Magistrate Ghassan Owaidat had issued two arrest warrants against the individuals on January 23.

Twenty-seven people were killed and 12 wounded in the building collapse that took place in Beirut’s Ashrafiyeh neighborhood.

The seven-storey building collapsed in less than a minute, therefore preventing the residents from escaping.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel had said that the building’s old age was among the factors that contributed to its collapse.

The incident had raised fears of the occurrence of similar ones given the abundance of old buildings in the country and people’s ignorance of proper construction safety rules.

Despite the outcry over the Fassouh building collapse, no official authority has been established in order to monitor similar cases to prevent the repeat of the disaster.