Tourist commits suicide at B-G

Swedish father throws his son over airport railing, and then commits suicide.

By YANIV SALAMA-SCHEER
ben gurion 88 298 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
ben gurion 88 298
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
A Swedish tourist died at Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday after jumping over a safety railing. According to eyewitnesses, the 47-year-old tourist entered Terminal No. 3 with his seven-year-old son, threw him onto the railway tracks and then jumped eight meters to his own death. "An attempt was immediately made to resuscitate the man, but he died almost instantaneously. The boy was taken in moderate-to-serious condition to Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer," police Cmdr. Maurice Harush told Army Radio. "We understand the boy is conscious and is answering questions from the police" an official from the Swedish Embassy told The Jerusalem Post. "One of the cleaners found the two bodies on the tracks," Israel Railways spokeswoman Mali Cohen said. The cleaner "waved at an approaching train coming slowly into the station, managing to stop the train just several meters before it would have hit them," Harush said. "I was working down by the tracks and I saw the boy falling" Yaniv Cohen, who works at the airport's train station, told the Post. "The people nearby were completely shocked, and then the father jumped." "They were meant to board a flight to Vienna on Sunday, and they probably missed their flight. They had stayed at the terminal since then." The two Swedes arrived in the country 10 days ago, police said. "The family did not have any relatives in Israel" an official from the Swedish Foreign Ministry told the Post. "Their family has been contacted back home and we are coordinating with the police and with our embassy in Israel to bring the boy's family to him." "It is a very sad story," the official said from Stockholm. "We feel sorry for the boy and his family, but it is Swedish policy not to speak publicly about suicide cases. The family of the boy will soon be with him and this tragedy should remain a private family matter." "We are examining all the possibilities to find the reason why he did" what he did," said police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. "Obviously we do not know why he acted this way, but we will look into both family and financial problems to see if they played a role" he told the Post. Annika Ben David, the Swedish Embassy's spokeswoman, would not identify the father and son, but did confirm that relatives were on the way to Israel.