July 20, 2012
Burgas bombing victims laid to rest
Follow JewishJournal.com on 
A victim of the Bulgaria bombing is buried at a cemetery in Rishon Lezion, Israel on July 20. Photo by REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
The five Israelis killed by Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Burgas, Bulgaria were buried Friday in Israel.
Funerals were held for Maor Harush, 25; Itzik Kolengi, 28; Amir Menashe, 28; Elior Priess, 26; and Kochava Shriki, 44, who was pregnant with her first child.
Seventeen injured Israelis are still hospitalized across the country after being flown back to Israel by the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday, according to Ynet. Two of the injured remain seriously wounded, according to the news service.
United States and Israeli officials are blaming the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah for Wednesday’s explosion outside Sarafovo Airport in Burgas.
Yair Maman, Kolengi’s brother-in-law, said at the funeral, “I cannot believe we are saying goodbye to you. The extent of the horror is indescribable – you went for a vacation and came back in a coffin,” Ynet reported.
Menashe’s wife, Natalie, was also injured in the attack. She arrived at the funeral in a wheelchair and kept saying, “Come back to me. I can’t live without you,” according to Ynet.
Kochava’s husband, Yitzhak, who was injured in the attack, searched for his wife for hours after being separated from her in the blast. “Only when I arrived in Israel did I realize she was killed. I was told the prime minister wanted to console us and that’s how I realized she didn’t survive,” he told Ynet.
