Flash flood kills 10 Israelis
The smiling faces of 10 teenagers, cut off in their prime, dominated Israeli news this week. This time the killer wasn't terror, but a hike that went ahead despite flood warnings.
THE smiling faces of 10 teenagers, cut off in their prime, dominated Israeli news this week. This time the killer wasn’t terror, but a hike that went ahead despite flood warnings.
The flash flood near the Dead Sea last Thursday was so vicious that Meir Lasri, a medic who rushed to the scene at Nahal Tzafit, told The AJN, “One of the girls was found four kilometres from where she fell.”
Young people descended on public squares in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Saturday night, lighting candles and mourning for the teenagers from the Bnei Zion gap year program, which ran the fatal hike last week.
As this outpouring of grief took place, police were holding staff from the program including its head Yuval Kahan. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The AJN that they are being investigated for “negligence causing death”, and the probe is understood to be focusing on their failure to change plans following flood warnings.
Several participants had a very bad feeling about the hike before it started. Local TV showed text messages that were exchanged before the hike, in which one girl wrote: “I can’t believe that I’m actually going out on a trip in this weather. It’s not logical that we should go to a place that is completely flooded. It’s tempting fate. We’re going to die – I’m serious.”
The guide – one of the people arrested – reportedly also had misgivings about the hike, but did not make the final decision. In a nation that loves to hike, and constantly sends youngsters to explore the country with teachers, it is a tragedy that left many feeling that it could have been their kids.
“Great sorrow overwhelms the country,” said President Reuven Rivlin. There were scenes of sorrow from funerals across the country, as the Tel Aviv-based program draws youngsters from all over Israel. One of the most tear-jerking reactions was from the girlfriend of a young man who was killed.
Liri Uriel looked even younger than her 18 years as she stood shellshocked with an interviewer’s microphone in front of her. She confirmed that she was with Tzur Elfi, also 18, until an hour before he travelled south to the hike.
He was “very excited” and she photographed him with his big backpack. He was living his “dream” by taking part in the gap year program and was due to join the air force.
Elfi died, she reported, because he gave up a chance to save himself so that he could help others to safety. “Tsur held on to a stone and decided not to climb out as a way to save himself,” but instead of using it to stay alive, rescued others.
The medic Lasri, who volunteers with the Zaka rescue organisation, told The AJN that when he arrived there were already two bodies, but they hoped and prayed for missing youths to be found alive. Instead, corpses kept on coming.
He had the job of preparing the bodies for identification by family, which given the speed at which the water had moved was “very hard”.
Lasri said, “I have been in Zaka for 10 years but this was one of the most difficult incidents I have dealt with.”
NATHAN JEFFAY
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