One dead in paragliding accident in Jounieh

L'Orient-Le Jour

21 hours ago

BEIRUT — One person died while paragliding in Jounieh (Kesrouan district) after landing in the sea on Wednesday, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the North and a source from the Lebanese paragliding club.
The Civil Defense confirmed his death, while some media outlets claimed that two people were killed.
According to the source from the paragliding club, he lost control of his paraglider while performing acrobatic maneuvers, before pulling his parachute and landing in the sea.
According to our correspondent, the victim was found after a search by the Civil Defense, who provided him with first aid, before he passed away.
In a statement released after the incident, the Media and Public Relations Department of the Civil Defense said that at 4:35 p.m. on Wednesday, it received a report that a citizen had fallen from a paraglider above Jounieh's beach.
"Specialized teams from the Civil Defense Maritime Rescue Unit immediately went to the site, and after conducting a thorough search of the sea, the victim was found about 15 meters from the shore, where he was pronounced dead," read the statement.
"The body was brought to shore in preparation for its transfer to the hospital, after the relevant security agencies arrived and completed the necessary legal procedures," the Civil Defense added in its statement.
Paragliding acro (acrobatic) is the freestyle and most extreme form of paragliding. Many experienced pilots don't try most acro manoeuvres due to its dangers.
Other accidents happened in the same area involving people who were paragliding recently. In May, a young man died following a paragliding accident in Jounieh. He was accompanied by an instructor who reportedly landed before fleeing and deleting the videos of the flight. It turned out that the accident had been caused by a failure in the way the young man had been strapped in. After three days on the run, the pilot surrendered to the intelligence service of the Internal Security Forces.
Other reports noted a previous accident that took place on April 4, also in the Jounieh region, when two young people were also victims of a fall, but emerged unharmed after landing in the bay's water.