JEWISH COMMUNITY ASSISTS FAMILY OF PLANE CRASH VICTIM
Federation of Jewish Communitites of CIS, Russia
May 4 2006
SOCHI, Russia – Last night, an A-320 airplane routed to fly from the
Armenian capital of Yerevan to the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi
ended up crashing in the sea just 500 meters off the coast. Upon
arriving at the accident site, the Russian search and rescue team
discovered that all of the 105 passengers and 8 crew members have died.
Rabbi Arie Edelkopf, the Chief Rabbi of Sochi and a Chabad Lubavitch
emissary, arrived to the site together with the rescue team. He
discovered that one Jewish person, who happens to be a citizen of
Armenia, was among the passengers to die on this tragic day. “With
the help of the rescue team, we will find the remains of this person
in order to bury him in accordance with Jewish national traditions,”
said Rabbi Edelkopf in reaction to this tragedy and the local Jewish
community’s response.
The Chief Rabbi of Armenia, Rabbi Gersh Burshtein, has already been
in contact with the family of the Jew whose life ended with this
airplane accident. He informed them about the carrying out of the
search for their loved-one at the accident site and promised to
provide the family every assistance possible.
Because of the catastrophe, Armenia and Russia have declared May,
5th the day of national mourning.
Both the Jewish communities of Armenia and the Jewish community
of Russia send their condolences to the families of this terrible
accident.
From: Baghdasarian