After father dies saving him, condition of boy who fell from cliff worsens
10-year-old critical, with head injuries, day after his fall on Negev hike
Doctors were fighting Saturday to save the life of a 10-year-old boy whose father died trying to save him after he fell from a cliff in the Negev Desert a day earlier.
Staff at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba said the boy was suffering from serious head injuries and was in critical condition.
The boy was airlifted to Soroka on Friday, after he fell from a ladder as he scaled a rock face in Nahal Tze’elim.
His father, university lecturer Dr. Omri Nir, dived after his son as he saw him tumble, managing to shield him as the two plunged down the side of the cliff. Dr. Nir died of the injuries he sustained during the fall.
Dr. Nir, who taught modern Lebanese history at Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is survived by his wife and three children.
He will be laid to rest on Sunday in Kfar Vitkin, the central Israel moshav that is home to the family.