Tragedy at Yosemite: 18 year old Israeli teenager fell to his death

18 year old Tomer Frankfurter from Ein Carm in Jerusalem was on a pre-army trip to the United States.

By HADAS LABRISCH
Updated: SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 04:52
Yosemite Falls is seen from a helicopter, June 2016 (photo credit: JOSHUA ROBERTS / REUTERS)
Yosemite Falls is seen from a helicopter, June 2016
(photo credit: JOSHUA ROBERTS / REUTERS)
An Israeli teenager died in California’s Yosemite Park on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry confirmed.
Tomer Frankfurter, 18, from Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem neighborhood, was on a pre-army trip to the United States.
He apparently lost his balance while posing for a photograph on the rocky cliffs of the famous national park and fell several hundred meters to his death.
The ministry is coordinating the transfer of his body back to Israel for burial.
Israelis youngsters often take trips to the United States, South America or the Far East after their army service. When drafting dates are months after the end of the school year, 12th-grade graduates sometimes choose to take a similar vacation before their two to three year service in the IDF.
Additional reports of tragic travel accidents have recently plagued the news sites.
Oranit Menachem, a 25-year-old Israeli traveler, died this week in India after a severe allergic reaction.
Yedidya Kellerman of Nof Ayalon was on a honeymoon trip to the Far East after he and his wife finished their army service about a year after their wedding. He was killed on August 30 when he was hit by an allegedly drunken driver on a motorcycle. Kesem, Yedidya’s wife who finished her IDF service in May after several years as an officer, was lightly injured in the accident.