Three days after a massive earthquake shook central Italy, rescue teams found the body of missing Israeli medical student Hussein Hamada under the ruins of his dormitory in the town of L'Aquila, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday afternoon.
Earthquake rocks Italy Hamada's father, Amin, who flew to Italy following Monday's earthquake, identified the body of his son, one of 278 people killed in the disaster.
Hamada, 23, from Kabul in the Western Galilee, had been studying at the University of L'Aquila for 14 months. L'Aquila, a town of some 73,000 and the capital of the Abruzzo region, is about 100 km. northeast of Rome and near quake's epicenter.
Hamada was apparently in the suite he shared with other Israeli students when the quake hit.
The Israeli Embassy in Rome said it would arrange for the body to be transferred to Israel as soon as possible.
After sending a letter of condolences to Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with his Italian counterpart on Wednesday and again expressed his condolences to the Italian people.
The leaders agreed that Israel would send a team of trauma experts to L'Aquila in the next few days.
Netanyahu told Berlusconi he was glad to offer any assistance and noted Israel's experience in rescue and reconstruction operations.
About 50 Israelis study in the town, mostly in the medical school. They all returned home by Wednesday, the same day a delegation of Israeli experts headed to L'Aquila to examine damage to bridges, roads and interchanges, in a bid to draw conclusions on how to prevent such damage in the event such a quake occurs in Israel.
