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January 13, 2008 5 Israelis
diamond execs on business trip killed in Namibia
Tani Goldstein,
www.ynetnews.com
The five Israelis killed in a Namibian plane crash Friday were executives in
an Israeli diamond company on a business trip to the African country. One of
the individuals in question was the owner of the company, and the other four
were members of the company’s management team.
African Tragedy
Light plane crashes into home near Namibian capital Friday afternoon,
killing six people; Israeli officials arrive at crash site Saturday, five
Israeli passports found at scene; Efforts underway to identify bodies
Full Article
The five executives, who worked out of the Ramat Gan Diamond Exchange and
also owned numerous diamond mines and polishing compounds in Namibia,
chartered a plane for a Safari trip in the African country Friday afternoon.
Their “Cessna 210” aircraft attempted to make an emergency landing, but
crashed near the capital Windhoek shortly thereafter. Police investigators
reported that the plane crashed into a local residence roughly five minutes
after takeoff. The pilot was also killed in the crash along with the five
diamond merchants.
The names of those killed in the crash are known only to the Israeli Foreign
Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in South Africa. The five Israelis
confirmed to have been aboard the light plane, and have officially been
declared missing, are Shlomo Zilberberg, the owner of the diamond company,
Shmuel Zigdon of Moshav Porat, Amit Cohen, a Netanya resident married only
three months ago, Ilan Hadadi, also of Netanya, and Avichai Abarov.
An Israeli team will likely be dispatched to Namibia in order to assist in
identifying the deceased. Officials told Ynet that the task of identifying
the victims is very complex seeing as the plane disintegrated completely.
Israel's Ambassador to South Africa, Ilan Baruch, arrived at the crash scene
Saturday morning along with Israeli Consul Sharon Dadon.
Namibia has always been a hub for the diamond industry. The Israeli
merchants involved in the crash were part of a relatively small diamond
company, one of nine Israeli companies operating in the region.
The most prominent diamond merchant operating out of Namibia is billionaire
Lev Leviev, who was recently given a grant to mine $ 3 billion worth of
diamonds off the Namibian coast. Most Israel companies in the region operate
on a far more modest scale, and own both mines and polishing compounds
situated in the south-African country.
Namibia: An African diamond hub
Namibia is a world leader in the diamond mining industry. Along with
Botswana, South Africa and Zaire it is now one of four top African countries
in terms of diamond production. This after the diamond trade in Angola and
Sierra Leona was severely impaired by the prominent role that so called
“blood diamonds” played in the civil wars raging in these African countries.
Israeli companies were always sensitive to the marked ethical concern
surrounding these so called “conflict diamonds” or “blood diamonds” used to
fund the civil wars raging in Angola and Sierra Leona. They were among the
first to halt diamond mining in these countries, and to move their
businesses to other south-African countries such as Namibia and Botswana.
Blood diamonds and other ethical concerns aside, Namibia is also attractive
to Israeli diamond companies seeing as it is relatively politically stable
and open to foreign entrepreneurship. There are no special security concern
for Israelis working in the region, and the country welcomes Israeli
businesses who employee thousands of local workers.
Neta Sela contributed to this article |
