15-year-old Syrian boy killed in hunting accident in northern Lebanon

NORTH LEBANON — Abdulaziz Toumani, a 15-year-old Syrian boy, died after being accidentally shot in the head with a rifle during a hunting trip involving several hunters in a field in the al-Arida border area in northern Lebanon's Akkar Plain.

According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the North, a team from the Lebanese Red Cross transported the boy's body to Dr. Abdullah al-Rassi Governmental Hospital in Halba, Akkar.

The hunter who was responsible for the incident turned himself in to the security forces, who have, in turn, begun an investigation to uncover the details surrounding the boy's death and take the necessary legal measures, L'Orient Today's correspondent noted.

Several people are killed by stray bullets in Lebanon every year. Firearms are widely available, and their possession is unregulated. In October, a police officer was killed by a stray bullet on the airport road. In August, a woman in Akkar who was nine months pregnant was injured by a stray bullet. Her unborn child was killed in the incident.

Reporting contributed by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the North, Michel Hallak.