A 21-year-old Israeli woman died of altitude sickness on Thursday in the Huarez region of Peru, shortly after sending a text message to her mother saying she felt very ill. Shira Roth, of Maaleh Adumim, had completed a trek in northwestern Peru and had been planning to return to Israel in about 10 days. She reportedly had begun to feel sick during the hike, and was on a bus en route to the capital city of Lima to see a doctor when a friend found her lifeless body in the seat. Roth's mother, Aviah, recalled her last correspondence with her daughter: "She wrote me a message on Whatsapp very early on Thursday morning, saying, 'Mom, should I take the pills for altitude sickness or not-' She said she felt her systems were failing, that she felt bad and was going to die. "I thought she was exaggerating with those words, the way young people sometimes write 'I'm going to die.' In the end, she and her friends decided not to take the pills because they can cause hallucinations and headaches. "Afterward, her friend wrote to me not to worry, that they had left on the long drive to Lima to see a doctor. I didn't believe it was that bad." After learning of her death, Roth's father, Hillel, wrote on his Facebook page: "My beloved daughter was killed on a trek in Peru. The air was thin up on the mountain, and Shira did not feel well. She hesitated to take the pills [to prevent altitude sickness]. She wrote to her mother and said she hoped it would pass, and then she left on an eight-hour bus ride, where she immediately went to sleep in the back seat. When her friend came to check on her during the long drive, it was 5 a.m., and it turned out she had been dead for a few hours already." Family and friends gathered at the Roth home to offer their condolences to her parents and two younger sisters. Roth's parents said they were at least glad their daughter got to travel and see the world before suffering such a horrible fate. The Roth family has experienced a similar tragedy in the past, when Aviah's brother was killed during a trip abroad. The Israeli Embassy in Peru released a statement saying, "The embassy is dealing with the authorities to organize the transport of the body back to Israel." As transport arrangements are still underway, the funeral date has not yet been set. "We can't even sit shiva [the seven days of mourning]," Hillel Roth said.
