Israel names 2 more fatalities in Tel Aviv garage collapse

Two victims killed in the collapse of a garage complex in Tel Aviv earlier this week were named on Wednesday as Oleg Yakubov, aged 60 from Tel Aviv, and Dennis Dyachenko, 28, a Ukrainian national employed in Israel.

The name of a third fatality, Ihad Ajhaj, 34, from Bayt Rima, northwest of Ramallah, was made public on Tuesday.

Three workers were still buried under rubble of the four-story subterranean garage on Wednesday, as hope dwindled that the hundreds of rescue personnel digging through the site would pull them out alive.

The family of Oleg Yakubov said Wednesday that his body has not yet been released as they cannot afford to pay for his funeral.

Yakubov, 60, immigrated from Uzbekistan to Israel 18 years ago, and lived in the working class Hatikvah neighborhood of Tel Aviv.

His widow Galina told the Walla news site that the family was told it needs to come up with NIS 40,000 to pay for a burial plot.

“Where is the money? We don’t have it,” she said.

Oleg would always work so they had money, Galina said, but they were always poor.

“In any job, he always worked hard with all his heart, for a tiny salary,” she said.

The two had children from previous marriages, including a son who has been in a coma in a Tel Aviv hospital for 12 years.