Hospitals in blast-hit north Lebanon grapple with power outages

Hospitals in Akkar struggle after fuel tank explosion, with Lebanese parliament set to discuss fuel crisis on Friday.

Hospitals in the Akkar region of north Lebanon where a fuel tank explosion killed at least 28 people this week are struggling to operate as life-threatening power cuts and telecom outages sweep the area. Lights and phone lines went out across the impoverished and marginalised region that has long suffered from an ailing power grid but that is now grappling with an unprecedented crisis due to severe diesel shortages nationwide. The outages on Tuesday come less than two days after a fuel tank exploded in the village of al-Tleil, scorching people clamouring to fill petrol that the army was distributing.