Pamela Zeinoun does not remember seeing the photographer who made her an accidental hero in August when he captured the nurse in a wrecked Beirut hospital moments after a massive explosion tore through the building. The image shows Zeinoun — phone wedged between ear and shoulder, dust coating her long hair — holding three tiny babies and looking into the camera with preternatural serenity.
Inside “I was panicking”, she says. Amid the havoc of bleeding medics and patients, the 26-year-old had extracted the premature babies from smashed incubators and was desperately trying to keep them alive.
In the chaotic hours after the blast, Beirutis learnt that neglected explosive chemicals had blown up their city. Social media flashed up images of the giant pink mushroom cloud, missing-person notices and murder accusations against corrupt Lebanese politicians.
A stash of ammonium nitrate had been left in the Port of Beirut for six years and, through a series of tragic coincidences…