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The body of a man discovered on the tires of a flight from Beirut to Riyadh was identified as a 20-year-old Lebanese, An-Nahar newspaper said Monday. It said the man, who apparently was mentally unbalanced, is a resident of south Beirut's Borj al-Barajneh, a neighborhood very close to Beirut airport, which made it easy for him to infiltrate the runway.

Future News channel on Monday identified the dead man as Firas Hussein Haidar.

Airport workers in Riyadh on Saturday found the man who apparently tried to hitch a ride on the Saudi-owned Nas Air jet, aviation authorities said.

An airport source in Beirut said a Saudi passenger and a fellow Lebanese traveler on Nas Air flight had reported seeing a man with a backpack running towards the jet shortly before it took off from Beirut.

According to the eyewitness account, the dead man wore a cap and a black T-shirt. The passengers/witnesses asked a flight attendant to report to the pilot what they saw, only to come back with assurances from the pilot that any activity can be seen on camera.

"The pilot took no action and continued takeoff," state-run National News Agency quoted one witness as saying.

Saudi and Lebanese officials were trying to establish the identity of the dead person. Saudi authorities sent a photograph of the dead man to Lebanese security authorities. The photo indicated the man was in his 20s. 

Copyright Naharnet

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