ISRAEL: Israeli municipality offers a million dollar reward for solid evidence of the existence of a mermaid in Israeli waters

Record ID: 395791

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israeli municipality offers a million dollar reward for solid evidence of the existence of a mermaid in Israeli waters
  • Date: 14th August 2009
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) IGOR KIRNUS, CAME TO SEARCH FOR MERMAID, SAYING: "I am here for the mermaid, I'm looking for her for about four hours from now. I'm just trying to catch her picture, win the grand prize. I'm just trying to get a picture of her, I heard that she has tail and not feet. I heard that she will be here approximately when the sun comes down. I heard even tha
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA54APPKH6G6CGB0B3KFGVV6W7X
  • Story Text: Israelis wait for sunset on the beach after rumours of a mermaid sighting resulted in a million dollar award offered by a local municipality, for solid evidence of the fabled creature.
    "Mermaid Mania" has infected Israelis in the past week, after rumours of a siren sighting triggered a municipality to offer a million dollar (USD) award for the person who can find solid evidence of its existence.
    "In the last few week we have got a lot of eyewitnesses that arrived to our municipality in Kiryat Yam and told us that they have seen a mermaid in the sea of Kiryat Yam, so we decided to take up this glove and to give a reward to whom will give us a clue or some solid evidence that there really is a mermaid in our water. A million dollars! So if you by a chance have seen this mermaid we would love and be very glad if you would bring it to us," Nati Zilberman, spokesperson for the Kiryat Yam municipality told Reuters television in the northern Israeli city.
    In the past days, scores of spectators arrived at the beach in the late afternoon, to try and get a glimpse of the mysterious creature, said to reveal itself just before sunset.
    "I strongly believe that, you know, in the Kabbalah, in the Zohar (referring to Jewish mysticism) they say that you have all kind of creatures underworld creatures, and since we believe in it, we know that it's possible (a mermaid exists). So this is the reason I came to see I hope to catch a view and to catch some one million dollars, too," Raphael Haziza, who came with a friend to chase the unique sight, said in Kiryat Yam.
    According to the municipality, no one has managed to produce a picture portraying the mermaid just yet, despite the fact that many people throng the beach with digital cameras and cell phone cameras.
    "I am here for the mermaid, I'm looking for her for about four hours from now. I'm just trying to catch her picture, win the grand prize. I'm just trying to get a picture of her, I heard that she has tail and not feet. I heard that she will be here approximately when the sun comes down. I heard even that she is ugly from some people that they met her already," said Igor Kirnus, a teenager who has been coming to the beach daily since the rumours first spread. Kirnus believes he may have spotted the creature in one of his photos, but needs to double check it is not a piece of floating waste using his home computer.
    Meanwhile, the town website has already started asking surfers to offer names for the mermaid, who could possibly become a local version if the Loch Ness monster.
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