LOUDERDALE, Fla. (WFLA) – A celebratory trip to Florida ended in a tragedy when a 14-year-old girl was killed and her 16-year-old sister was seriously injured in a personal crash on a ship.
NBC affiliate WTVJ reported that the girls slammed the ship into a waterway dock within the Fort Lauderdale waterway around 3:30pm on Tuesday.
According to the news station, 14-year-old Rachel Nisanov was killed in a crash. Aviva Nisanov, 16, who ran a private ship, was taken to hospital.
“They came back to the dock from what I understand, they lost control, they ran into the dock, they both flew and hit the dock,” the girl’s brother, Jonah Nisanov, told WTVJ.
Jonah said her father, who was on a personal ship, jumped into the water to try to save the girl.
“My father doesn’t even know how to swim, he jumped in, my sisters were unconscious, their life jackets were on their way, they were lying flat, my father scraped his hands, his feet, his back, he scraped his back to save them, he did what he could, the other one could do it, and unfortunately he didn’t thank one of them,” Yonah said.
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Jonah said his family was visiting from New York and surprised Rachel on a trip to Florida during her graduation dinner.
The news station reported that his father, Shlomo Nissanoff, is a famous rabbi in New York.
“I don’t know why it happened, but I believe this is what it is intended. God will give us the strength to move forward and strengthen ourselves,” he said.
The family is planning to return Rachel’s body to New York, and she will be buried in Israel afterwards, WTVJ reported.
The crash is under investigation.
