Body of missing Israeli found in Kyrgyzstan

The body of missing Israeli trekker, Hila Livne, 22, was discovered in Kyrgyzstan on Friday, six days after she fell to her death while hiking.

Friends and family of the 22-year-old had posted updates on Facebook as they looked to raise money for the search, with one of the pictures showing Livne at the bottom of a mountain range holding up a sign wishing everyone a good new year.

According to the page “Bringing Hila Livne home,” she had been was on her post-army trek having been released from the IDF six months ago. The page said: “Before her army service, Hila volunteered for a year of service with children in Jerusalem after two years as a scouts guide in the Israeli Scouts.”

Her twin brother, Yuval, travelled to Kyrgyzstan to join the search, joined by a local and Israeli delegation.

However, on Friday afternoon, he posted a note from the family, which read: “With pain and sorrow, we want to announce that our Hila is no longer among the living. We want to recognise the national effort to give us strength and hold our hands at a time that was difficult and terrifying for us. Now, we are parting. We will forever remember her smile. It was a smile that started with the eyes.”

According to Ynet, Livne had been with an Israeli and two French trekkers in the Sari-Chalak nature reserve on Saturday, but was separated from them when the Israeli hurt his foot and fell. The two French hikers stopped to tend to him. Livne fell off the cliff where they were, and her body was found in a gorge below.

The Foreign Ministry thanked “the military, police and rescue forces in Kyrgyzstan, as well as representatives of the German and US embassies there, for their support and assistance in their extensive search to find Hila.”

Israel’s consul in Kazakhstan, Ariel Braverman, and the Department for Israelis Abroad in the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department are handling the transfer of Livne’s body to Israel.