An ambulance in Jbeil. (Credit: Civil Defense)
The Lebanese Civil Defense announced on Tuesday that it had recovered the body of a beachgoer off the coast of Jbeil who had been missing since Sunday.
“Members of the Civil Defense maritime rescue unit, in coordination with the Lebanese army's sea commandos and air force, have managed to recover the body of one of the two teenagers missing since Sunday,” the rescuers announced in a statement. Search operations are continuing for a teenager who is still missing, said the Civil Defense.
These two people are part of a group of nine young people who found themselves in difficulty on Sunday at sea due to bad weather. Civil Defence managed to rescue one swimmer on Sunday, while the lifeless bodies of two others were recovered on Sunday and Monday. The remaining five were rescued.
In recent weeks, a number of people have found themselves in difficulty off the Lebanese coast, with tragic results. On April 26, the lifeless body of a man was recovered off Sour in southern Lebanon. Similarly, at the end of April, three swimmers drowned off the Ramlet al-Baida beach in Beirut, swept away by currents.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.