Kerala woman living illegally in Israel dies of kidney ailment

An Indian woman from Kerala living illegally in Israel has died at a hospital in Tel Aviv. Jaya Vijayarajan, 53, a native of Veliyam in Kollam district of Kerala, came to Israel in 2004 to work as a caregiver. Her Indian passport (E3879759) expired on February 23, 2013 but she did not renew it and continued to live in Israel illegally.

Vijayarajan's flatmate from three years ago Lilly Yohannan, who is from Thiruvananthapuram, told PTI that she got a call from Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv on Friday. She was told Vijayarajan was unwell.

Yohannan went to the hospital to see Vijayarajan and was informed about her friend's death due to kidney infection in the morning."Vijayarajan had not been keeping well for sometime. She got both her eyes operated about four months back. She was also a severe diabetic," Yohannan said.

"She came from a poor family in Kerala. She had no work recently and was surviving with the help of friends who were paying for her rent and buying her food. Her family in Kerala sold their land and other valuables to send 21,000 Shekels (about USD 6,000) for her eye operation," Yohannan said.

Vijayarajan was admitted to the hospital on December 11.

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When contacted by PTI, her son Abu V Raj, 28, who lives in Veliyam, said the family does not have the means to get Vijayarajan's body back. Abu is a truck driver. He and his sister, Arya, are both unmarried.

"Our mother left for Israel in 2004, some fifteen years ago, when my father was sick and bedridden. She would send us money during the initial years which helped my sister study. She never came back home after she left," Abu said.

Vijayarajan had kept in touch with the family and according to her son was "working as a labour supplier" in Israel.

"Everytime we would ask her to come back she would say that she did not have the money to return," Abu said.

Their local Member of Parliament, Kodikunnil Suresh, is said to have requested the Indian Ambassador to help arrange for the body to be sent back from Tel Aviv to Kerala.

When contacted, the Indian mission said the family has expressed its inability to fund the transport for Vijayarajan's body.

"The mission is taking necessary steps to send the mortal remains to India on priority", authorities said.

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