Australian teen dies in paragliding incident in Lebanon
An Australian teenager has fallen to his death in a horrific paragliding accident while on a family holiday in Lebanon.
Hussein Mearbany, a 16-year-old from Western Sydney, was paragliding over Sahel Alma in tandem with an instructor, with initial reports suggesting he may not have been properly secured.
The teen died instantly when he fell about 300 metres, his instructor, who allegedly fled the scene, is now the subject of an investigation.
According to local media, the owner of the paragliding company has been arrested and all paragliding has been suspended in the surrounding Jounieh area, which is about 40 minutes from the capital Beirut.
Authorities are now reviewing video footage of the incident which took place on May 10.
Hussein was two weeks into a family holiday when the incident occurred, and his father, who had remained in Sydney, flew straight to Lebanon to be with the family, according to 7NEWS.com.au.
A funeral has been held in Lebanon for the teenager and his family is due to return home to Sydney this week.
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