Two Lebanese were confirmed dead in Tuesday’s multiple terror attacks in the US, reported the Daily Star newspaper.
Waleed Iskandar, 34, was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11, the first of two hijacked airliners that slammed into the World Trade Center.
Iskandar and his South African fiancée had arranged to travel to the Los Angeles area to meet Iskandar’s parents.
Iskandar, who resided in London where he worked for the Monitor consulting firm, had been in the Boston area for three days visiting his brother. He and his fiancee were scheduled to take the same flight to Los Angeles, but he decided to precede her by one day in order to have extra time with his family.
Iskandar is the son of Joseph Iskandar, a contractor formerly based in Kuwait who has resided in the Los Angeles area for the last decade. He is also the nephew of Jamil Iskandar, who owns the Holiday Beach in the Nahr al-Kalb area.
Jamil Iskandar told The Daily Star that he learned of the tragedy while watching television coverage of the attacks.
“I was on the telephone with my brother Joseph, watching CNN. When they said that American Airlines Flight 11 was involved, we said ‘This is Walid’s flight.’ This is how we knew,” he said.
Also on the ill-fated American Airlines Flight 11 was Butros Gerges Hashem, from Aqoura, Jbeil. Hashem, a 37-year-old resident of Boston, was a product manager at the Teradyne Company.
He left Lebanon some three decades ago, but visited the country regularly. He was married to Rita Hashem, and the couple have two children.
Family members in Lebanon said Hashem had been planning to travel with this sister, Rose, to Los Angeles.
However, she then informed him that she would be unable to make the doomed flight and suggested that she follow him on the next available plane to the west coast, said the paper – Albawaba.com
