Hassan Akram Chamas

Hassan was born in Hay El-Sellom, he attended one of Al-Mabbarat schools, until he finished middle school. He was forced to drop out due to his family's difficult economic situation. He was the eldest, and his father was sick and had his leg amputated.

Thus, it was his responsibility to provide for his family. He was always ahead of his age, a young little man. Hassan worked in different restaurants, as well as in a car parts company. He moved from one job to another to make ends meet. He even worked as a cab driver… The last job he landed four years ago was at the Port of Beirut with the Mediterranean Shipping Company Lebanon, his duties entailed the management of the company’s shipping trucks.

Hassan was charismatic, generous, and always helpful. He was brave, and he would put his own life in danger if that's what it takes to help others.

On August 4, 2020, Hassan's mother, Souhaila, heard the sounds of fireworks and explosions, she thought it was an Israeli airstrike on Beirut. She called her children to check on them, but Hassan did not answer her call. She sent him a voice note asking him to get back to her as soon as possible, but there was no answer… Heartbroken, the family spent the night looking for Hassan from hospital to hospital; they didn’t find him. The next morning, there was still no news of him.

It was forbidden for civilians to enter the explosion site, but one of Hassan's brothers in law, who was a soldier, entered the site in his military uniform. He started searching for Hassan among dead bodies in body bags. He opened the bags one by one, but he didn’t find him. A few meters away, he saw a dead body in the rubble under a truck. He pulled it out and shook the dust off it, he saw the tattoo on his back, and the scars of a surgery on his finger, it was Hassan…

His wife Mariam did not see his dead body: "I didn’t see him. Everyone tells me a different story. Someone told me his head was cut open."