A Hong Kong-born woman has told of her family's dramatic escape from war-torn Beirut, describing their road trip to Jordan as 'the most terrifying five hours of our lives'.
The former Loretta Cranbourne, who was raised in Hong Kong and was head girl of the Island School in 1992, is resting at her home near Washington after arriving from the Middle East at the weekend.
Married to ethnic-Lebanese engineer Imad Abousleiman, she and her family endured a hair-raising road trip last Wednesday.
'It was like a miracle that we arrived safely in Amman after five hours of dodging bombs,' she said.
After graduating from Island School, Ms Abousleiman studied in the US, graduating from Georgetown University, then with an MBA from Columbia. She met her husband as a student and they were married in 2000. They have two sons, Lucas, three, and Andrew, seven months.
The family went to Lebanon last month to introduce Andrew to Imad's parents. But their holiday was forgotten when Israel began its bombing campaign in response to Hezbollah attacks. They were booked on a flight to the US on July 13 when Israeli missiles smashed into the runway at Beirut airport.
'We saw the plane being destroyed in front of our eyes,' Ms Abousleiman said. 'We had no warning this was going to happen.'