The body of a young man who went missing during a winter storm last week was found next to Tel Aviv’s Yarkon River and identified by authorities Sunday, following a days-long search.
Eliyahu Abba Shaul, 19, disappeared during the height of winter storm Byron, after leaving his home in Bnei Brak on Wednesday night, prompting a wide search for the missing teen.
Search and rescue volunteers from the ZAKA group found the body, police said, which the Abu Kabir forensic institute later identified as Shaul.
Police and rescue services had begun concentrating their search efforts in and around the Yarkon, north of Tel Aviv, after finding Shaul’s clothes and motorized bicycle near the riverbank in neighboring Ramat Gan.
According to testimonies published by Ynet, Shaul left his parents’ home on Wednesday at approximately 6:30 p.m., riding a bicycle. After several hours, and given concerns due to the major winter storm, his relatives reported him missing at around 1:30 a.m. to Bnei Brak’s police station.
The search lasted four days and involved officers, police dogs, horsemen, a police helicopter, drones, and volunteers, according to police.
The storm, one of Israel’s biggest in recent years, caused severe disruption in much of the country, and resulted in at least two deaths in Israel and East Jerusalem. In Gaza, 11 Palestinians were reported dead over the course of the storm, as tent cities flooded.
