Hikers rescued after getting stuck in dark
Nightfall leaves 136 stranded in Judean Desert gorge, after holiday traffic jam slows paths; 70 others lose their way along northern stream
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJoshua Davidovich is The Times of Israel's Deputy Editor
Some 200 hikers had to be extracted from nature sites Thursday night and Friday morning after getting caught in the dark.
Three rescue units were called out to the Nahal Dragot area in the Judean Desert to locate and help some 140 hikers who got stuck in the rocky gorge near the Dead Sea after the sun set.
The hikers said overcrowding at the site, which includes narrow passages where people must go one at a time, caused them to be unable to finish the course before nightfall.
By 2 a.m. Friday, all 136 of the hikers had been located and extracted.
In the north of the country, another 70 hikers had to be rescued after losing their way in Nahal Sion, near the border with Lebanon.
The operation to rescue the trekkers lasted until after 6 a.m. Friday and included the use of a helicopter.
The hikers got stuck along the stream after failing to reach the end of the course by sundown.
There were no reports of injuries at either site.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have packed the country’s parks and nature reserves during the Passover holiday, with schools on vacation and many people off work.
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