As death toll tops 6,200, search continues for last missing Israeli
Rescue team forced to cut efforts short on Thursday due to weather; Netanyahu thanks Modi for Indian role in rescuing nationals
Rescuers were slated to resume the search for the last Israeli unaccounted for in Nepal on Friday morning, as the death toll in the quake-ravaged country climbed to over 6,200.
The father of Or Asraf joined the search team on Thursday morning — five days after the trekker went missing in the wake of the devastating earthquake — but poor weather forced them to end the day’s search by Thursday afternoon, Israel Radio reported.
Though there have been unconfirmed reports by Israelis in Nepal who may have seen Asraf approximately an hour after the initial 7.8-magnitude quake in the Langtang region, the IDF veteran who fought in Operation Protective Edge has not been heard from since. According to Israel Radio, Asraf opted to hike ahead of the group he was with, unaccompanied, about an hour before the earthquake hit last Saturday.
The Israeli rescue teams were also slated to extract the remaining Israeli trekkers stranded in hard-to-reach areas on Friday morning, the radio report said.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, to thank him for “the assistance of Indian helicopters in rescuing Israelis and for Israeli planes’ landing in Indian territory.”
Netanyahu told Modi that major efforts were now being made to locate Asraf and thanked him “for his willingness to aid in the search effort.” The Israeli leader also conveyed his condolences to the Indian people for the losses suffered in the recent quake. Modi thanked Netanyahu in a widely shared post on Twitter.
My gratitude to PM @netanyahu for his kind words on India's relief & rescue efforts in Nepal including help extended to Israeli nationals.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 30, 2015
The National Emergency Operations Center said Friday the death toll has risen to 6,204. A further 13,932 people were injured in Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, added the center. More than 100 people in neighboring India and China also died in the quake, officials said.
Asraf’s father Patrick and members of his son’s unit — the Golani Brigade’s elite Egoz unit — traveled to Nepal Wednesday night to assist in the search.
Hilik Magnus, the head of Magnus International Search and Rescue, said that one of his team leaders in Nepal, Amit Rubin, is heading a rescue operation to find Asraf.
The team believes, based on Asraf’s itinerary and the time of the earthquake, that he is within a four-kilometer range of Bamboo, a village in the Langtang Valley at approximately 2,000 meters elevation.
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Dozens of Israeli backpackers have already been rescued from the remote mountainous region just north of Kathmandu.
The problem with the area, Magnus said, is that the earthquake triggered massive landslides, obliterating the trail and making it exceptionally difficult to navigate across the steep slopes.
Asraf carried an SOS satellite device capable of emitting a traceable signal but has not turned it on, Magnus said.
His friends from the Egoz army unit in which he served have landed in Nepal and are assisting the search and rescue team. Rescue services in the area, however, do not see this step as necessarily helpful.
Members of the IDF delegation to Nepal and Magnus’ organization are specially trained in search and rescue techniques, something Asraf’s former unit — elite as it may be — is not as familiar with.
Magnus called their participation “a double-edged sword” because while their devotion to their friend is heartwarming, at times the additional personnel are also a burden for the rescue professional.
On Wednesday, Patrick Asraf expressed optimism his son would be found safe.
“As the hours go by we are receiving more and more reports from people that were there and saw him.”
“We are in constant contact with the relevant bodies and all signs show that everything is OK,” he added. “We are optimistic.”
The effort comes as Israel’s other operations in Nepal, including a large field hospital in Kathmandu and search and rescue operations, have gotten underway in the quake-ravaged country.
A Hercules transport plane was set to land in Mumbai Thursday evening, where it will load up with supplies for Kathmandu, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After delivering that equipment, the plane will return to India with members of the IDF’s Homefront Command in Nepal. If there is enough room, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, some of the approximately 60 Israeli citizens still in Kathmandu will also travel on that flight.
Israel’s field hospital began operating Wednesday morning, with staff treating nearly 100 patients and delivering their first baby — a boy — on the first day, according to an IDF spokesperson.
Among the patients were some 30 Israeli nationals, according to Walla. Most were suffering from dehydration and were soon released to their hotels.
Over 250 doctors and rescue personnel were part of an IDF delegation that landed Tuesday in Kathmandu.
The Israeli group — the second largest in manpower of any international aid team after India — set up the field hospital with 60 beds, including an obstetrics department, and was operating in coordination with the local army hospital.
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Rescue efforts persisted Thursday, and crowds cheered as a teenage boy was pulled, dazed and dusty, Thursday morning from the wreckage of a seven-story Kathmandu building that collapsed around him five days ago when an enormous earthquake shook Nepal.
The boy, who has not been identified, was carried out in a stretcher. His face was covered in dust, and medics had put an IV drop into his arm. A blue brace had been placed around his neck. He appeared stunned, and his eyes blinked in the sunlight.
Also Thursday, an Israel-led team pulled a Nepalese woman out of the rubble in Kathmandu. Workers from the Israeli group IsraAID, along with local soldiers and a team of experts from France and Norway, worked into the night for 10 hours to pull Krishna Devi Khadka to safety.
AFP and AP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.