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Beirut blast victim's parents wage lonely battle for justice
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Paul and Tracy Naggear pose for a picture at their house in Beit Mery in the mountains east of Beirut on August 1, 2022 as they hold a framed drawing for their late daughter Alexandra who was killed port blast of August 2020. The couple have lived in grief since the massive explosion that tore through the Lebanese capital in 2020 killed their three-year-old daughter, and their anger boils over the stalled investigation. The August 4 mega-blast, blamed on a fire that ignited tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser haphazardly stored for years at Beirut harbour, was one of the largest non-nuclear detonations ever recorded. (AFP/Joseph Eid)
P
aul and Tracy Naggear have lived in grief since the massive explosion that tore through the Lebanese capital in 2020 killed their three-year-old daughter, and their anger boils over the stalled investigation.
The August 4 mega-blast, blamed on a fire that ignited tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer haphazardly stored for years at Beirut harbor, was one of the largest non-nuclear detonations ever recorded.
It destroyed thousands of homes, including the couple's apartment which overlooked the harbourside. Their daughter Alexandra was one of the youngest among the more than 200 people killed.
Failed attempts to hold accountable the state officials whose negligence is widely blamed for Lebanon's worst peacetime disaster have made Alexandra's death even more bitter.
"Our sadness is not the same, it keeps growing, because as time goes on, we miss Alexandra and feel her absence," said Tracy, 36.
"Although we can learn to live with sadness, there is an anguish and anger that continues to grow" in the absence of justice, she told AFP in the lead-up to the tragedy's second anniversary on Thursday.
Paul and Tracy moved out of Beirut and settled in the mountain town of Beit Mery, 10 kilometers (six miles) away following the blast.
