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July 30 (UPI) -- Israeli emergency officials on Monday found the body of a University of Kentucky student who went missing after going swimming in the Mediterranean Sea near Tel Aviv, her family said. Family members told the News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla., that TeNiya Elnora Jones' body washed ashore early Monday.
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The 19-year-old was swimming with two friends in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam after midnight Saturday, when they were "caught up in a strong current and pulled out to sea," a statement from the university said.
The woman's friends returned to shore but Jones did not.
The Times of Israel reported rescuer workers, including divers, scoured the sea searching for Jones.
Jones, from Fort Myers, Fla., was one of four students who traveled to Tel Aviv by bus from Amman, Jordan, for the weekend. They were part of a nine-student delegation attending a seven-week Council on International Exchange study-abroad program on the Arabic language.
Jones was a sophomore majoring in biology and Islamic studies. Her program in Amman was scheduled to end this week.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with TeNiya, her family and the students and others impacted," University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto said in the statement. "We are in continual contact with TeNiya's family, officials in Israel, officials from the State Department and our congressional delegation, to provide all the support we can for the family, students and others involved. We will do everything possible to provide whatever support is needed."
