Fleeing robbery, Israeli tourist falls to her death in Brazil

Bouhadana jumped over a nearby wall, without realizing that there was a 15-meter (49-foot drop) on the other side of the barrier.

By World Israel News Staff

An Israeli tourist jumped over a wall and plunged to her death while fleeing an attempted robbery in Brazil, local authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

Alma Bouhadana, 24, had been traveling in Rio de Janeiro with an Israeli companion, named by Brazilian media as Dan Hen, in the Santa Teresa neighborhood on Tuesday.

The pair were en route to their hostel in the Copacabana neighborhood after visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue.

Initially, they had tried to use a taxi application to take them from the the statue to their accommodations, but no drivers would accept the ride.

After trying to secure a ride in vain, the pair began to walk back on foot, when they were approached by a suspicious-looking man on a motorcycle.

Hen told police that Bouhadana panicked, believing that the man was attempting to rob them.

In order to escape, she jumped over a nearby wall, without realizing that there was a 15-meter (49-foot drop) on the other side of the barrier.

“This is a tragic and difficult case in which a young Israeli woman died as a result of a fall from a considerable height in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,” Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a media statement.

“The Department for Israelis Abroad at the Foreign Affairs Minister, Consulate of Israel in Brazil, Neta Avrahami, and Mariano Hirsch, a representative of the Jewish Agency in Rio de Janeiro, are assisting the family during this difficult time and in facilitating the transfer for burial in Israel.”

Bouhadana was from Kibbutz Ya’sur in Israel’s northern district.

According to Brazilian media, Bouhadana’s body was taken to the Afrânio Peixoto Legal Medical Institute (IML), located in the center of Rio.

The Capital Homicide Police Station is investigating the case.