After searching throughout for some 72 hours, including Shabbos, Zaka volunteers of the international rescue unit located and identified the body of missing Israeli Amir Ochana z”l who was last seen on Rosh Hashanah in the Ukrainian city. Members of the Ochana family have been informed of the tragic news.

One of the Zaka volunteers who had flown out from Israel on Thursday saw the body floating in the river that runs through Uman. Ochana, 28, from Bat Yam, was found wearing his Shabbos clothes, without shoes or socks. It would appear that he had fallen into the river after sitting on the river bank.

Zaka is working together with the Israel Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy to bring the body back to Israel as soon as possible for burial. Zaka officials involved in the search operation praised the cooperation from both Ukrainian and Israeli diplomatic officials. It is reported that once the paperwork to release the body is completed, the levaya will begin at the tziyun of Rav Nachman ZT”L ZY”A and then to Kiev and to Eretz Yisrael for kvura.

13:00 IL: The levaya is set to begin in the large shul in Uman at 13:30 Israel time and make its way to the tziyun of Rav Nachman ZY”A before heading to Kiev and then to Israel for kvura.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)