(WSVN) - It was supposed to be a honeymoon full of love and joy in South Florida but it turned into a time of pain and suffering. 7’s Rosh Lowe has tonight’s edition of the Lowedown.
It was a dream wedding. Yael Hayuni, 28 years old and her husband Nissan, 32, tied the knot with a lifetime of hope ahead of them and a dream honeymoon to Miami in their future.
Yael Hayuni, widow: “It’s my husband, my big love.”
The Israeli couple made the flight Tuesday to South Florida. Nissan fell asleep.
Yael Hayuni: “He didn’t answer any answer in a minute. Two breathes and I ask for help.”
A few hours into the connecting flight on an international airline between Madrid and Miami, Yael knew something was wrong.
Yael Hayuni: “Everything start at 6 and we landed at 10:15, so four hours and fifteen minutes we are in a first aid situation.”
The honeymoon has turned into a nightmare and now Yael is planning a funeral. This widow has questions. What happened to her seemingly healthy husband and could he have been saved?
Yael Hayuni: “The first aid defibrillator in Israel, we have it everywhere, it’s a law.”
She says the flight didn’t have a defibrillator, a device that can shock the heart back into action.
Yael Hayuni: “You don’t have defibrillator? Why?”
Karen Cohen comforts her friend.
Karen Cohen: “She deserved the best and he was the best. We want to know why they didn’t have this machine.”
U.S. commercial flights both domestic and international are required by law to have a defibrillator. The same isn’t true for airlines across the globe.
Rosh Lowe: “We still don’t know if a defribillator would have helped because we don’t know the cause of death but we wanted to get the opinion of an expert on this issue.”
Dr. Gervasio A. Lamas, Mt. Sinai Medical Center: “It delivers a high voltage shock to the heart that resets the rhythm. If that’s not why you’re dying, then it doesn’t help.”
There is no guarantee a defribilator would have helped Nissan. But the family says this is not just about the fallen 32-year-old. It’s about anyone traveling abroad taking long flights and the need to have every first aid device available.
So Yael spends a few hours in Miami before she returns to Israel. She has left behind the shattered dreams of a honeymoon and a future with a man she loved so much. She leaves with questions.
And the hope that no one ever has to suffer the same pain. In Miami, Rosh Lowe, 7News.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.