The body of the 12-year old Israeli girl Nicole Surkin, killed in a driving accident in Khabarovsk, in the Far-East of Russia, was flown to its final resting place in Israel.
The Israeli-born Surkin and her parents were visiting relatives in the region. They were driving from Khabarovsk to neighboring Birobidjan, 130 kilometers away when their car spun out of control.
Nicole Surkin and her aunt were killed, while the girl’s parents were lightly injured.
Birobidjan Rabbi Eli Riss and Khabarovsk Rabbi Yakov Snetkov, both Chabad Shluchim associated with the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, hurried to the place of the tragedy right after they heard news of the accident.
The rabbis and community leaders of Khabarovsk and Birobidjan were called upon to help speed up the process of recovering the body from the Russian police and to facilitate its transfer to Israel.
Their efforts were also needed to make sure an autopsy was not performed, which is prohibited by Jewish tradition, yet is a common practice in Russia’s post-mortem protocol.
“Unfortunately a tragedy had happened. Jewish communities of the two cities and the Israeli consulate took immediate action to assist the family and do anything we can in this tragic situation,” said Rabbi Riss.
Have mercy and give her parents a speed recovery and may the girl and her aunt rest in peace and may her parents have only happiness and revealed goodness and they should have much happiness and they should only hear of good things and they should not be so depressed they should be happy once again!
Love, someone who feels your pain