Naharnet

2 Lebanese Killed in Sulaimaniyah Plane Crash

Two Lebanese were among seven people killed in the crash of a small private jet in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah on Friday, the National News Agency reported.

Among the dead were three members of the flight crew, including the two Lebanese – Stephanie Louqa from the coastal town of Batroun and Abdullah Lahoud, NNA said Saturday.

The third crew member was Jordanian Marwan Dahli, it said.

The remaining four were technicians and shareholders with Iraqi mobile phone company Asiacell, an airport official in Iraq said.

"The plane, which was a small private jet, crashed shortly after it took off because of bad weather," he said. "Seven people have died, including three crew."

The plane was headed to the Turkish capital of Ankara. It had first taken of from Beirut airport to Sulaimaniyah on Friday morning.

Among the dead were Bassel Rahim, a shareholder in the mobile phone operator and the brother of Rand Rahim, who was the first Iraqi ambassador to Washington after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

Sulaimaniyah, 270 kilometers north of Baghdad, is the second biggest city in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, and is the headquarters of Asiacell.(Naharnet-AFP)

Source: Agence France Presse


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