Israeli Vacationer Missing After Hippo Attack on African Safari
An Israeli attorney on vacation with his family in the southern African nation of Zambia is missing after a hippopotamus flipped over the boat he was riding in with his children.
Israeli media are reporting that Aviyam Yariv, 39, the son of Israeli editor and model Hilit Yeshurun, was likely attacked by hippos and alligators in the Zambezi River, which separates Zambia from Zimbabwe.
Yariv’s two children were able to make it to shore; he reportedly was not wearing a life jacket.
Yeshurun has arrived in Zambia to help search for her son. The Israeli consul to Nairobi in Kenya, the closest diplomat to the incident, also has arrived to assist in the search, Ynet reported.
The Zambezi is one of the most picturesque rivers in Africa and teeming pods of hippos fill the shallow water. Lions peer from the banks and giant herds of game live on remote islands.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
