JERUSALEM: The parents of an Israeli killed in a workplace accident five months ago are seeking legal permission to use his frozen sperm to produce a grandchild, even though he was not in a relationship.

Ohad Ben-Yaakov, who would have been 28 yesterday, left no written indication of his wishes regarding children. But his parents say they want to fulfil his wish to continue the family line. If their legal application succeeds, they will need to find a woman willing to bear their grandchild. They insist they have no wish to raise the child themselves.

Israeli courts have allowed the female partners of dead men to use their sperm to create a child, but an application by prospective grandparents is almost unprecedented.

Following the accident last September, Mr Ben-Yaakov was in a coma for two weeks before his death. His parents agreed to donate his organs and won a court's permission to retrieve sperm, which was then frozen.

Mari and Dudi Ben-Yaakov were quoted in Haaretz as saying: ''If we were entitled to donate the organs of our son, why are we not entitled to make use of his sperm in order to bring his offspring into the world? This is what he would have wanted.''