‘Suddenly rocks fell on us’: 8-year-old boy killed, 8 hurt in rockslide near Dead Sea
Two girls and two adults in moderate condition after earthfall; IAF’s Unit 669 dispatched to scene at Nahal David stream at Ein Gedi; police temporarily close off roads in area
An eight-year-old boy was killed and at least eight other hikers were wounded following a rockslide at the Nahal David stream at the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve near the Dead Sea on Thursday morning, medics said.
The Israel Air Force’s elite helicopter-borne search and rescue Unit 669 was dispatched to the scene.
The eight-year-old boy was declared dead at the scene, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said. He was later identified as Yehuda Levi, a resident of the community of Hemdat in the Jordan Valley.
The MDA also said that its medics, along with Unit 669 medics, treated another eight people at the scene, including girls aged four and 12 in moderate condition, a woman in her 40s who was lightly-to-moderately hurt, a 22-year-old Italian tourist in moderate condition, and four others, including children, who were lightly hurt.
The rockslide occurred along the route of the Nahal David stream, a 25-minute walk from the closest access road.
“This is a complex area. We arrived quickly, left the ambulances in the parking lot of the stream, and went down on foot [to the scene] with the medical equipment,” said MDA paramedic Lior Shasha.
“We arrived at the waterfall, and suddenly rocks fell on us,” eight-year-old Lavi Bar-David, who was lightly injured, told Channel 12 news. “I got hit by a rock on the head, and my sisters were also hurt.”
Lavi added that he bandaged his sister with his shirt. “I know that’s what you do when you need to stop the bleeding. We didn’t have anything else, so that’s what I did.”
“We saw huge rocks falling down,” Lavi’s father Yonatan said. “I blame myself for not managing to grab the kids; it happened in a split second, all at once, without any warning. The rocks hit the ground, and there was an entire cloud of dust – you couldn’t see anything at first.
“I took my youngest daughter, who had injuries to her head and legs, and ran with her to the entrance of the nature reserve along with five other kids. I admit I was in shock.”
Police temporarily closed the Route 90 highway in both directions in the area, but reopened it by the early afternoon.
“The family had come to hike in the stream,” a hiker who was at the scene told Ynet. “There was a landslide and they were on the trail. The entire family was injured.
“I was outside when they brought the father and the three daughters who could walk on their own. They also had scratches and a shirt soaked in blood. At first, it was horrifying because they couldn’t find the mother and the eldest daughter, and the son as well. The uncertainty was dreadful.”
It is still unclear if the boy who died was part of the same family.
