Three Israelis, Yoav Bomrind, Elad Neidik and David Rabinovich, were killed on Sunday when a small Piper PA-28 crashed in Maryland, the United States. The plane had departed from New Jersey, from the WIFA flight school where they were studying. It went down in Prince George's County, and emergency crews who reached the scene declared the pilot and two passengers dead. The cause of the crash is still unknown. Wreckage was found in a wooded area behind a residential neighborhood and spread across about 30 meters.
Yoav Bomrind's father, Shalom, told ynet that Yoav had been adopted from Ukraine at age 1 because the family could not have children. He said Yoav was an outstanding soccer player, a police volunteer, and had gone to the United States eight months ago for a two-year stay to fulfill his dream of becoming a pilot. He had already earned his first license and, according to what they had been told, was an excellent pilot. "This is a terrible disaster, we cannot absorb it," the father said. He added that they spoke every evening about the World Cup, that Yoav loved soccer, and that just the night before Yoav called to say he was going on a flight.
Hours before he died, Yoav posted an Instagram story about his friend Staff Sgt. Nir Ben Ari, who was killed in Lebanon. "Unbelievable, we grew up together," he wrote, adding a broken-heart emoji. His father said that was the last thing Yoav posted on Instagram. Shalom Bomrind said Yoav planned to take a flight so he could attend the funeral, and that the family had gone to the funeral the day before. "We never dreamed it would end like this," he said.
Bomrind's father described him as "a wonderful person who helps everyone and is the most polite there is." He said Yoav had a 21-year-old sister, the family’s biological daughter, who serves as a regular-duty casualty officer and had a close relationship with him. He also called Yoav "devastatingly handsome" and said he had run after him "all over the world," including bringing him from Ukraine. In Maryland, WUSA9 reported that the crash happened in Bowie, in a wooded area near Superior and Annapolis streets. The outlet said Prince George's County 911 received an automatic crash alert from an iPhone shortly before midnight, triggering a large response by law enforcement agencies. Local Chabad rabbi Eliyahu Brone said he helped with prayers and with a respectful transfer of the bodies according to Jewish tradition, including Psalms and the memorial prayer. He said, "All Jews are brothers."
