The body of American John Redwine was found in a remote mountainous area of Lebanon three days after he disappeared, security officials said Tuesday.
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The cause of Redwine’s death was not immediately clear but he apparently died while hiking in the central mountain region of Sannine, said the officials, who would not comment on whether foul play was a possibility until an autopsy was completed.
The Daily Star newspaper reported that about 100 Lebanese army personnel and other security forces, two helicopters and search dogs and a team from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon had been looking for Redwine following his disappearance earlier this month.
Security sources told the paper Redwine seemed to have fallen to his death on Sannine Mountain in the Mount Lebanon range. Redwine’s car was found nearby, the paper said.
“Unfortunately, our security people confirmed that they found a body who they believe is that of John Redwine,” Bahaa al-Koussy, director of the U.N. Information Center in Beirut, told the Daily Star.
He added that Redwine worked for the Beirut office of a German geo-sciences and natural resources institute that had been working with the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
The Daily Star said it spoke to Redwine’s wife Irina about his disappearance, but said she sounded distraught and declined to comment.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed Redwine’s death. “The Lebanese government is investigating,” she said. “We would refer you to them for information about the investigation.”
Freelance journalism
The Arab Digest blog said Redwine had worked as a freelance journalist and posted a YouTube clip of him being interviewed about Syria on Fox News.
Redwine previously worked on a project for a U.K. corporate communications company called Albany Associates.
The company’s website says it provides “full-spectrum communications services in parts of the world that others simply cannot reach,” and had established a reputation for “getting the job done …. in some of the most difficult, demanding and dangerous places on the planet.”
Doug Griffin, a director at Albany, said he was aware of reports of Redwine’s death and said staff were “very saddened by it.”
“He worked closely with many of our colleagues. It’s really sad news,” he told msnbc.com.
On his Twitter account, which was last updated on Dec. 14, Redwine described himself as an “independent public relations and communications professional based in Beirut, Lebanon with over a decade of experience in the Middle East and fluent Arabic.”
His account featured a number of news articles and details of news events in Lebanon and the Middle East.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45736027/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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