Body of 25-year-old found in Sea of Galilee after 5-day search

Newlywed Natan Hajani disappeared after jumping off a boat for a swim during a weekend in the north of Israel

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

After a five-day search, rescue services on Tuesday found the body of a 25-year-old man who drowned in the Sea of Galilee after jumping off a boat for a swim.

Natan Hajani and his wife of three months, Mor, of Bnei Brak, were visiting the northern city of Tiberias, which sits on the lake, for the weekend with friends.

During the visit they went out on a boat ride. At a distance of several hundred meters from the shore, Hajani decided to jump into the water for a swim.

He disappeared and was not seen again until the rescue services located his body on Tuesday.

It’s the second drowning tragedy to hit Mor Hajani, who saw her father drown in a swimming pool in the central Israeli city of Yehud when she was a child, Hebrew media reported.

“It’s heartbreaking. She saw her father drown in front of her eyes and now also her husband. Everything’s come back to her and she just cries all the time,” a relative told the Ynet news site while the search was still going on,

Police and rescue services searched for Hajani using boats, divers, a helicopter and a drone. The body was found by divers with the help of sonar equipment.

The Sea of Galilee is Israel’s largest freshwater lake, covering around 166 square kilometers (64 square miles). Due to several years of drought, visitors have to walk some distance to get to the lake, which is initially shallow, but drops quickly and deeply. The lake is also subject to windy conditions.

In April, three men drowned in separate incidents in the Sea of Galilee during very windy weather.

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