Authorities ramp up search for 3 missing on Sea of Galilee

Police and rescue services recommenced their search Thursday morning for three people who went missing on the Sea of Galilee after they were swept by winds away from the coast and into deeper water.

The three young men lost on the lake in separate incidents on Wednesday had all entered the water on blow-up rafts, but ran into trouble as they were swept away from shore when winds picked up.

Although authorities continued to look for the three missing young men overnight, police and rescue services reportedly increased their their efforts Thursday morning, seeking to take advantage of the daylight by sending additional rescue workers and calling for the help of volunteers.

Late Wednesday, Hebrew media reports named two of the missing men as Itamar Ohana, 19, from the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, and Nahman Itah, 21, from the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit.

The third person missing is said to be a 17-year-old from the central Israeli city of Netanya. As of Thursday morning he was unnamed.

According to Hebrew media reports, during the morning Itah and his girlfriend set out on a floating rafts from the Lavnun Beach camping resort on the eastern shore of the lake. Strong easterly winds and currents pushed them out into deeper wat where the mattress overturned. A jet-ski rider was able to save the woman, but Itah was out of sight.

Later Wednesday morning, two teenagers, both 17, who also floated out on a blow-up raft, were swept out, after which the device became punctured. One of the teens was rescued, the other went missing.

In a third incident, a number of teens set off from the Lavnun Beach on a floating mattress and were also taken westward, away from the shore, by the wind. Two were able to swim back to shore but the third, Ohana, went missing.

Sporadic winds and rain have hampered search efforts.

Their disappearance came as more than 80 other people were rescued from the lake, after foundering in the water during the day as heavy winds surprised holiday bathers.

Rescue services warned that venturing away from the shore line on rubber dinghies or floating mattresses was life-threatening.

“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,” the life guard service said in a statement, referring to Lake Kinneret, the Hebrew name for the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee is Israel’s largest fresh water lake and covers around 166² kilometers (64² miles). Its shores are lined with vacation sites that host tens of thousands of Israelis during the week-long Passover festival that began on Monday night.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.