By Zhao Wenhuan and Ding Wendong
BEIRUT, Oct. 26 – A 41-member detachment of the 19th Chinese peacekeeping multi-functional engineer contingent to Lebanon concluded the cleanup and reconstruction assistance in Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon on October 23, after the huge explosions at the Beirut Port, and returned to the mission area in South Lebanon last Friday.
According to the command of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), China peacekeepers carried out this reconstruction mission together with counterparts from France, Spain and Cambodia.
The 41 Chinese peacekeepers worked nearly ten hours a day and six days a week. In the Port of Beirut, they had dismantled more than 500 large steel frames and handed over more than 70 sorted-out containers, dispatched about 250 vehicles for transportation of steels, cleaned up and handed over more than 70 containers, debris of more than 100 cars and motorcycles, and over 10,000 pieces of various goods.
The reconstruction assistance mission began on September 30. In the Port of Beirut, the peacekeeping forces of UNIFIL have completed the clearance and transportation of ruins totaling 6 thousand square meters and recovery of reusable items. In the downtown Beirut, they also finished the clean-up of ruins in three streets, searching for and protecting cultural relics and ancient monuments, searching for valuable items, as well as cleaning and repairing the damaged building of the Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry.