ARAVA JUNCTION, Israel (Press Release)–Nine teenagers, eight of them girls, were drowned in a flash flood near Arava Junction in Israel’s Negev Desert. Another two youths were lightly injured, and evacuated to Saroka Hospital in Beer-Sheva. Thirteen were unharmed and one girl was missing, according to Magen David Adam.
Eitan Shlomo, an emergency medical technician with Magen David Adom, evacuated the two injured to Soroka Hospital: “On the way to the scene we drove past large puddles and flooding on the road. With the help of 4 X 4 vehicles we were able to arrive. We joined the MDA crews at the scene next to the entrance to the river and we treated and evacuated two 17 year olds suffering from injuries to their faces, limbs and heads. They were rescued by IDF airforce helicopters. They were evacuated to Soroka Hospital (in Beer-Sheva) in light-to-moderate condition.”
Eldad Sarfati, an MDA EMT who was one of the first to arrive at the scene with a 4 X 4 ambulance, said: “I left the MDA station in Sapir in the Arava and joined to the Arava Rescue Unit and the police near the entrance to Nahal Tzafit. A few minutes later, the Israeli Air Force’s 669 helicopters arrived and took us to twp injured in light-to-moderate conditions, and after a few minutes I was sent to the high point with the ambulance, where some of the travelers rescued themselves and checked them. There were 13 youths there, They were moved to the point where they were all assembled. ”
MDA Paramedic Nir Yifat said “I was with a patient in a Mobile Intensive Care Unit on the way from Eilat to Soroka, I received a call from the MDA Emergency Dispatch Center about the incident when I was about 3 km away. I continued quickly and stopped at the scene of the incident, I went with the ambulance to a high place in the area, and the helicopters of Unit 669 began to evacuate the seriously injured after they had been extracted from the river. The sight was very difficult. We performed a preliminary triage on the casualties who came to us when they were unconscious, pulseless and not breathing, and suffered bruises and signs of drowning. With the help of the IDF medical force, we performed medical tests and after a short time we had to pronounce the death of one young man and eight young women.”
MDA Southern District Director Yehuda Shushan, who arrived at the scene, said: “As soon as the call was received, large teams of ambulances and Mobile Intensive Care Units were dispatched to the area. Some of the ambulances entered the area where the injured were rescued and some of the ambulances went out to check the travelers who managed to extricate themselves. A boy and a girl who were injured and in light-to-moderate condition received rapid treatment at the scene and were evacuated for further treatment to the hospital. This is a sad event, very difficult and complex. ”
MDA Director-General Eli Bin said, “This is a very difficult and unfortunate event, and the rescue operation from the field was complex and was carried out in full cooperation between the security forces that arrived at the site, Unit 669 of the Israel Air Force, Magen David Adom, The Police, Fire Brigade and the Rescue Units, in difficult conditions and with personal risk, we share the sorrow of the families and wish a speedy recovery for the young people who were injured”
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Preceding provided by Magen David Adom