The remains of an Israeli navigator downed over Egypt 22 years ago has been found in the Nile Delta region, Israel Radio reported.
Capt. Eran Cohen had been declared missing after his Phantom jet was shot down over the Nile Delta during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Israeli President Ezer Weizman, accompanied by senior Israel Defense Force officers, visited Cohen family Thursday night at Kibbutz Deganya Aleph, located near Tiberias, to inform them personally of the news.
Weizman later explained that during a visit to Cairo in December, he had asked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to give priority to the search for missing Israeli soldiers.
Weizman expressed gratitude for the Egyptian leader’s cooperation. He added that accounts provided by Egyptian locals eventually led the search teams to the field where the body was found. Accompanying Weizman to the Cohen residence was Maj. Gen. Yoram yair, head of IDF Manpower Divison. He explained the circumstances of Cohen’s disappearance.
“Today we know that the plane was hit by a missile and split in two,” Yair said, “The back half fell in one spot. The front part, with the engine and the pilot, about [a half-mile] from there.
“There were witnesses who said they saw Eran parachute to the ground, where he was set upon by villages and beaten to death,” said Yair. But an examination of the body indicated that Cohen had been killed by the impact of the fall and had not been beaten by villagers, he added.
Yair said the search effort to find the bodies of other missing soldiers would continue.
A date for Cohen’s funeral has not been set.
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