Hero Dies Rescuing Drowning Swimmer At Israeli Beach
Image by Getty Images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli personal trainer drowned while attempting to save the life of a stranger struggling in the water off an Ashdod beach.
On Sunday, Yohai Elkayam was strolling down Citadel Beach with a friend when they heard a woman calling for help and he jumped in to save her, Israel’s Channel 10 reported.
“He did not think twice, a friend of his asked him if he knew how to swim and they just jumped in,” his friend Yaniv Rojevsky told the Israeli outlet. “They managed to get to the girl and save her, and the friend was lucky enough to sit down or stand on some sand hill, but Yochai was swept into a whirlpool.”
Elkayam, 30, had been planning on proposing to his girlfriend. His parents got the news of their son’s death while vacationing in Europe and flew back immediately for the funeral.
“I do not understand why his judgment led him to do this,” Rojevsky said. “I assume that the desire to save a person was stronger than the judgment – the desire to help and push. He was a strong guy who knew how to live life.”
This is Yohai Elkayam, a 28-years-old Israeli hero. Yesterday he saw a young woman he didn’t even know – drowning in the sea. He rescued her but paid with his life. Rest In Peace, Yohai. pic.twitter.com/0OnCmKXoQd
— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) August 20, 2018
The post Israeli man, 30, dies saving swimmer off Ashdod beach appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
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 Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
