An Israeli businessman, 48, identified as Rada, was found dead at a restaurant in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with authorities investigating the possibility that he was poisoned.
Rada, who conducted business in Ethiopia, had been visiting the restaurant when he went to the bathroom. After he failed to return for approximately 40 minutes, people went to look for him and discovered his body inside a stall. Local police have arrested suspects in connection with his death. Poisoning is among the possible causes being investigated, particularly because Rada was reportedly in good health.
Israel's Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa are in contact with his family. Efforts are underway to repatriate his body to Israel, although an autopsy likely will be required to establish the cause of death.
In March, Mulu Brehiya, 51, from Be'er Sheva, died in Ethiopia just 48 hours before an Israir evacuation flight was scheduled to bring him home.
Brehiya, a father of five whose children included two who served as combat soldiers in the IDF, had traveled to Ethiopia to visit his ailing sister. When Operation Roaring Lion began, he was forced to remain in the country alongside several other stranded Israelis, many of them elderly people in their 80s and 90s who had traveled there for herbal medicine treatments. For security reasons, evacuation flights were initially not dispatched to Africa.
Mulu Brehiya, 51, from Be'er Sheva, died in Ethiopia
At the initiative of lawmaker Pnina Tamano-Shata, who enlisted the assistance of Israir, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and Transportation Minister Miri Regev, an emergency coordination center was established to assist stranded Israelis and their families.
Evacuation flights to Addis Ababa subsequently began operating, subject to the necessary approvals and administrative procedures.