Middle East Newsletter: Lebanon Plunges Into Darkness
A general view shows the fuel oil electricity generating plant in the Lebanese coastal town of Zouk Michael, north of Beirut.
Photographer: AFP/AFPA warning from one of Lebanon’s top hospitals over the weekend served as a reminder of the potential for the nation’s fuel crisis to cripple the country and bring vital infrastructure to its knees.
The American University of Beirut Medical Center said on Saturday it will be forced to shut off ventilators and other lifesaving equipment in less than 48 hours should the fuel shortage continue. Forty adult patients and fifteen children living on respirators could die “immediately,” it said.