An ultra-Orthodox family from Manchester, UK, faced tragedy at Ben-Gurion Airport Monday evening as they made their way home after a week-long visit in Israel. Shortly before boarding the plane, the father, in his fifties, suddenly collapsed, likely due to a heart attack.
ZAKA volunteers were called to the scene, where they performed emergency treatment, but eventually pronounced the man dead.
Shlomic Segel, commander of the ZAKA unit in Modi’in Illit who was at the scene, said, “We received a report of a man who had collapsed in Terminal 3 as he was boarding the plane. When we arrived, I saw the children of the family. We tried to calm them down while we were performing life-saving treatment, because they were in a panic.”
The victim’s body was taken by ZAKA paramedics to Terminal 1 from where it will be transported to undergo an autopsy. The volunteers stayed with the man’s wife and children and will be accompanying them to provide support.