Six hikers who went missing in Negev, found and resuced
By ZACHARY KEYSERPictures of the area in which the missing hikers were found(photo credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Volunteers of the Arad and Negev Units, found and rescued six young people who got lost among the vastness of the desert.The police initially receive a report of the absence of these six outdoors-man who decided to a trip in the Nahal Tsafit area of the Negev, but never showed up in the following morning hours.The rescue teams began searching a short time ago, the missing hikers were found by a river among the vast desert. Initial investigations have sad that the group entered a difficult area off of the normal trails posted along the way and could not find their way back from their final campsite before being rescued.The rescue units would like to exercise caution when entering the rivers, as they have been known to over flow in the past, without warning. In addition you should let your whereabouts known to at least one other person off the trip, brings loads of water and a flashlight, even if for a day trip.Just last year, ten youths, nine girls and a boy from a pre-military academy, were killed after they were carried off by a surge in the Tzafit stream west of the southern part of the Dead Sea amid intense storms that hit the South of Israel.The body of a missing female student was located later, bringing the death toll to 10, after search and rescue operations in the Judean Desert continued through the night. Efforts were earlier halted around 8 p.m. due to danger posed to the team by the harsh weather conditions.Two other students of the school, the Bnei Zion Academy in Tel Aviv, were moderately wounded and were taken to the Soroka-University Medical Center in Beersheba. Thirteen of the students were found by search and rescue teams and were uninjured.According to a statement released by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, a medical team from the co-ed Bardelas Battalion stationed in that area came to the scene.Three teams of the IDF’s elite 669 Search and Rescue Unit, aided by their three Yasur and two Yanshuf helicopters, searched for the missing. In addition, teams from the IDF’s Oketz canine unit and Yahalom joint special-combat engineering unit took part in the search.
In short, police would like to note, be safe, communicate well and be ready for any situation - upon emergency those in distress can always call 100 (the IL version of 911).Tamara Zieve contributed to this report.
