Israeli family missing in Crimea

Parents alert Foreign Ministry, Interpol after failing to contact grandparents, three grandchildren

By ToI Staff 2 July 2016, 12:33 am

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A Russian and a Crimean Cossacks volunteer stand guard in front of Crimea's regional parliament building where a Russia flag is floating, in Simferopol, on March 14, 2014 (Daniel Leal Olivas / AFP)

Five members of an Israeli family on vacation in Crimea have been reported missing.

The family members, a grandfather, grandmother and three grandchildren, aged 6-10, landed in Crimea on Friday morning and have since made no contact with family members back in Israel.

The Israeli general consul in Moscow has been in contact with local authorities in an effort to track down the missing persons, who had landed in Moscow on Wednesday, where they took a connection flight to Simferopol, the capital of the Crimean Peninsula.

According to Channel 2, officials at the airport confirmed that the family landed in Simferopol and picked up their luggage.

After trying to contact their relatives unsuccessfully, the children’s parents alerted the Foreign Ministry, Interpol, the Israeli consul in Kiev and the private rescue firm Magnus.

“As of now we don’t know where they are, and we are conducting a search effort together with the Magnus firm and the Foreign Ministry,” officials with Passportcard, the company insuring the five family members in the Ukraine, told Channel 2.