Bat Yam officials quizzed on suspected negligence in 9-year-old’s cliff death

Officials from the municipality of Bat Yam were questioned by police over the weekend on suspicion of negligence leading to a nine-year-old boy falling to his death Wednesday from a beachside cliff in the Tel Aviv suburb.

According to police, employees from the engineering, beaches and city improvement departments of the municipality were questioned, and further workers are expected to be quizzed.

Timofy Ashturia was brought in critical condition to Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center on Wednesday, but was pronounced dead after doctors were unable to resuscitate him.

His funeral was held Friday in Jaffa’s Christian cemetery.

According to media reports, police believe the child, who had gone to the beach as part of a youth group activity, was sitting or standing on an outcrop of boulders on the cliffside when he fell for an unknown reason.

At the time of the incident there was no fence on the cliff and it is believed that rocks at the base of the steep rock face were not in their natural position and had been moved there, Channel 13 reported.