28-year-old Israa Seblani had no idea about the impending doom that was about to shake her city when she had stood radiant in a long white gown, posing and smiling for her wedding video. But, her almost perfect wedding video was interrupted when a shattering deafening roar had shaken the ground, and a powerful shockwave enveloped Beirut, cutting her wedding celebrations short. This video footage was captured at that moment when a massive explosion had resulted in killing 135 people and injuring more than 5000.
WATCH: This Lebanese wedding photographer captured a bride and groom getting married just as a massive explosion rocked #Beirut.
The couple were unharmed in the blast and took refuge in a house before continuing their ceremony pic.twitter.com/0bMtt2OWC7
— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) August 5, 2020
Seblani is a doctor who is working in the United States and had arrived three weeks ago in Beirut for her wedding. Right after the explosion happened, she had helped to check on injured nearby, while in her wedding dress, before leaving the place.
Seblani and her husband Ahmad Subeih were still struggling to process what had happened when Reuters had spoken to them. “I have been preparing for my big day for two weeks, and I was so happy like all the other girls, ‘I am getting married’. My parents are going to be happy seeing me in a white dress; I will be looking like a princess.” After the blast, she and her husband tried to compose themselves and carry on with their celebrations. She added that she was happy to be alive after the blast.
Subeih has been waiting for a visa to the United States to join his wife. Seblani loves Lebanon but feels that after Tuesday’s blast, living there is not an option.