Father Breaks Down in Tearful Interview After Daughter Dies in Florida Jet Ski Crash

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — WPLG Local 10 reporter Rosh Lowe spoke with Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov on Wednesday, just a day after a jet ski crash in Fort Lauderdale claimed the life of his 13-year-old daughter, Rochel, and left his 16-year-old daughter, Aviva, critically injured. The girls lost control of their personal watercraft and collided with a concrete dock Tuesday afternoon, while their parents followed on another jet ski.

“I didn’t come to Florida to bury my daughter,” Rabbi Nisanov said through tears. “I came to Florida to have a good time with her, and now I have to take her back in a casket.” Aviva remains hospitalized following surgery.

Mark Rosenberg, director of Chesed Shel Emes (CSE) Emergency Service Recovery Unit and chaplain of the Florida Highway Patrol, spoke to VIN News in a distraught voice about the heartbreaking situation. “I’ve dealt with many terrible tragedies over the years,” Rosenberg said, “but this one struck me very deeply because a father came from New York for a vacation and ends up burying one child while remaining by the side of another in the hospital, hoping for a miracle.”

Rosenberg publicly acknowledged the Florida Highway Patrol for providing an escort to Fountainview Aviation to load Rochel’s body onto Hatzalah Air for transport to New York for a proper funeral, while ensuring one parent would be back quickly to be with Aviva in a Broward hospital. He also praised the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for their sensitivity to the family’s religious needs.

“Watching a parent face the unthinkable—having to bury one child while the other remains in the hospital fighting for her life—is a pain that defies words,” Rosenberg said, his voice breaking.

“Our mission at Chesed Shel Emes is to honor the deceased with Kavod HaMet, support the family through this unbearable loss, and remain at their side in the hospital when they need us most.”

The investigation into the crash is ongoing, as authorities seek to determine all circumstances surrounding the tragedy.