Israeli woman dies in Brazil under murky circumstances

Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Jiri Flogel/Shutterstock

(JNS) — An Israeli woman in her 20s died in Rio de Janeiro on Monday under circumstances that remain unclear.

“This is a sad and difficult case where a young Israeli woman was killed as a result of a fall from height in Rio de Janeiro,” the ministry said on Tuesday night.

The Foreign Ministry’s Department for Israelis Abroad and the Israeli consulate in Brasilia, along with the Jewish Agency office in Rio de Janeiro, are “assisting the family during this difficult time and with the transfer of her body for burial in Israel,” the ministry statement added.

Alma Bohadana, from Kibbutz Yasur in the Western Galilee, died after falling 50 feet in a forest. Authorities are investigating whether she may have been fleeing a robbery attempt.

The investigation is being handled by a police station that handles murder cases in the Brazilian city. “Further steps are being taken to examine the circumstances surrounding her death,” the Homicide Office of the Capital said in a statement.

According to the Daily Mail, Bohadana had been traveling alone in Brazil for three months. A witness with Israeli citizenship was questioned three times and provided inconsistent explanations of the circumstances of her fall.

Also this week, a Jewish businessman with triple Israeli, Canadian and Russian citizenship was killed in Alexandria, Egypt. Authorities were investigating the incident as a case of murder. The Israeli Foreign Ministry was also looking into the incident.