A British mother says she was sexually assaulted while parasailing during a holiday in Tunisia.
She claims a male instructor groped her and pressed his body against hers while they were strapped together in the air above the resort town of Sousse.
In an interview, the woman, from Merseyside, described how the alleged ordeal left her feeling ‘violated and dirty and scared’.
She had booked a tandem parasailing flight with a friend, but the staff told them it was too windy for them to go up together. Instead, they would each fly with an operator.
Her friend went first and had no issues. Watching from the beach, she noted that there was clearly a significant distance between her friend and the male guide.
But she said her own flight was a completely different experience.
‘I could feel the back of my bikini bottoms being pulled, and he was pulling the strap. He must have been tightening the harness to get me closer,’ she told The Sun.
‘His legs straddled around me, he had one hand up on the parachute, the other wasn’t. Then I felt him touch my leg.
‘He was groping me and moving back and forth into me and talking to me in Arabic. I felt him pressing against me. I kept arching my back. I felt violated and dirty and was scared. He was only a young lad, maybe around 20.
‘It was a horrible experience and I was really scared. I felt helpless hanging in the air.’
The woman says she burst into tears as soon as she landed and immediately reported the incident to the water sports centre’s manager. She then went to the local police.
The divorcee had booked the £6,000 easyJet package holiday with her children and was unable to enjoy the rest of the trip.
She added: ‘As women, you expect a bit of banter from men in these countries, but this wasn’t banter, it was a sexual assault.’
She says her alleged attacker has since been arrested, and her insurance company, as well as the Foreign Office, is helping her.
EasyJet said ‘the safety and wellbeing of our customers is a priority, and we are continuing to support’ the woman.
‘We are also liaising closely with our hotel partner to look into the reports.’
