Peru delays release of Israeli tourist’s body, angering Foreign Ministry
Local authorities demand autopsy after Shira Roth, 21, died Thursday from apparent altitude sickness
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Peruvian authorities are said to be delaying the release of the body of an Israeli tourist who died in the country on Thursday, angering the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the bereaved family of the tourist.
Shira Roth, 21, from Jerusalem was traveling in the South American country with a friend and and the friend’s mother when she reportedly fell ill after taking part in a trek to a mountain almost five kilometers high.
She was found lifeless on a bus on Thursday. Her death was apparently a result of altitude sickness during a three-day trek in the Huaraz region.
Local authorities were demanding an autopsy, a demand Israel and her family have refused, according to Israeli reports.
Israeli Foreign Ministry officials were working to receive the body so Roth can be returned to her family in Israel for burial. Talks between Israeli officials and Peruvian authorities have yet to yield results, Israel Radio reported Sunday.
“We see the current handling of the situation by the Peruvians as unacceptable, even outrageous. There is a limit to how much a grieving family can wait,” a Foreign Ministry official told Ynet on Sunday.
According to the Ynet report, local authorities were insisting on further investigation into the death.
Roth was the second Israeli tourist who died in Peru in March.
Earlier in the month an Israeli tourist was killed while on an extreme adventure ride in Cusco.
The man, identified as Orel Guetta, 24, of Kfar Saba, apparently fell to his death after a cable came loose on the “Tarzan” pendulum attraction, which swings riders along a canyon from a harness 100 meters in the air. Medics were unable to save Guetta, who suffered severe injuries in the accident.
The Times of Israel Community.