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'A lab coat is white, my wedding dress is white:' The woman from a viral video of a bridal shoot interrupted by the Beirut explosion was a doctor who rushed to tend to wounded victims still in her wedding dress

Aug 13, 2020, 11:02 IST
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Firefighters spray water at a fire after an explosion was heard in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2020. RREUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
  • Last week, 2,750 tons of high-density ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut.
  • A video of a bridal photoshoot interrupted by the explosion went viral.
  • The bride, 29-year-old Isra Seblani, who is also a doctor tended to the wounded, The Washington Post reported.
  • "The lab coat is white, my dress is white. The style is different," Seblani said.
  • More than 150 people were killed and 5,000 more injured from the explosion.
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Isra Seblani was posing for her bridal photoshoot when an explosion went off in the Port of Beirut last week.

A video of the impact of the explosion as Seblani was posing went viral, and the 29-year-old doctor told The Washington Post that while initially fearing she would die she used the moment to aid those who were wounded.

"That moment, one thing I thought about was now I'm losing my life, I'm losing my husband, I'm gonna be buried under a building," Seblani said in an interview with ABC7.

Seblani, who is an American citizen told The Post she went to Lebanon to see her husband, who she had been postponing marrying for three years as he waited for his immigrant visa.

She said that as she heard the explosion, her one wish was to be able to hold her parents' hands if she was going to die.

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"When we hear the explosion and the pressure ... one thing came into my mind. Isra you are now going to die. You are going to lose your life, your husband, your dreams..... now you're losing all this," She told The Post.

However, finding a safe place in a restaurant, Seblani saw people were injured.

Still, in her wedding dress, she began tending to the wounded.

"When we went inside the restaurant, I was looking around me people who were dining in, people who were shopping and as life was normal before the explosion. Now everyone is yelling, shouting, crying, and bleeding. So, I started to help some people who got injured, telling them to relax, we are all good, we are still alive and we will be fine," She said. "I couldn't think about myself anymore. I felt like I'm here to do my job."

In Arabic, Seblani said she chose to be a doctor to give something back to the world, anything she was capable of doing.

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Bride Israa Seblani poses for a picture with her husband Ahmad Subeih in BeirutREUTERS/Yara Abi

"Your job starts here, you should go for it," she said of her reaction.

More than 150 people were killed and 5,000 more were injured when 2,750 tons of high-density ammonium nitrate exploded in the city last Tuesday. The explosion occurred as the country was reeling from the worst economic crisis in decades with millions on the brink of poverty.

The explosion destroyed homes, buildings, and hospitals, some of which had to treat patients outside or send them to other facilities to receive care.

"The lab coat is white, my dress is white. The style is different," Seblani said.

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