BICOM

Three Israelis appear to have drowned in separate incidents in the Sea of Galilee yesterday. Rescue services mounted an extensive operation involving boats and divers in an attempt to find three young men who were swept out into deep waters due to unexpected strong wind in the area.

One of the missing men, a 21-year-old, entered the sea along with a woman of the same age.  They quickly drifted out to deep water after the lilo they were floating on capsized.

A life guard at the scene said: “I saw people who were swept out, I saw them raising their hands and asking for help. The other life guard asked a jet ski to bring them out of the water, but by the time he arrived, they didn’t find the second man, because he was drawn away after they became separated.”

In another incident on the same beach, several teenagers drifted out to sea in strong currents and high wind. Two were able to swim back but the third, a 19 year-old, is still missing.

The rescue services said: “We call on the vacationing public on the shores of the Kinneret to listen to the instructions of the life-guard service and to refrain from entering the water on beaches that don’t have life guards.”

A 45 year-old man died after he became dehydrated whilst hiking in Nahal Arugot, near the Dead Sea. Rescue teams from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Ein Gedi Park tried to resuscitate him, but he died at the scene.

Two people were also killed in a car accident in the south. The victims included a 22 year-old woman who was recently discharged from the army having served in the mixed Karakal combat unit.  The driver of the second car, a 24 year-old Bedouin man later died in hospital.