Missing Tel Aviv professor found alive but in poor health, 8 days after disappearance

Professor Nurit Yaari, who had been missing for more than a week, was found alive but in serious condition on Monday morning, law enforcement announced in a statement.

The 78-year-old theater professor was found under a bridge at Tel Aviv’s Ayalon River, according to Hebrew media reports.

Yaari had reportedly spent days under the bridge at the river after she was last seen on security footage walking in the streets of Tel Aviv, seemingly disoriented.

She was thought not to have eaten or drunk since she went missing from Ichilov Medical Center on October 26 after accompanying her husband, who had fallen and hit his head.

The visually impaired professor had left her home without her glasses and was last seen on security cameras in a street close to the hospital before being found on Monday.

In a statement, the police said Yaari required medical attention and that emergency services were called to the scene before she was taken to the hospital.

The Israel Police said it had “worked around the clock” to locate Yaari, and had employed “extensive measures” to assist in the search, including the police aerial unit, search animals, and advanced technology. The statement thanked all the police officers, volunteers and media who helped in the search.

“The family is overjoyed that Nurit was found alive,” the professor’s brother-in-law, Yanki Shahuri, told Ynet on Monday morning. “The police phoned us and said she was found dehydrated but breathing by herself. Her husband’s son is supposed to get married in New York today, and now he can celebrate knowing that Nurit was found alive.”

At the time of her disappearance, actress Lilian Barreto, a friend of Yaari’s, told Channel 12 that it was unlike her to disappear but that she was suffering from dementia and was likely confused.