IDF sends elite rescue unit to Jordan following deadly flash floods

The Israel Defense Forces is assisting in rescue efforts in Jordan after a school bus there was swept away in flash floods on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea.

The IDF says that at the Jordanian government’s request, a number of helicopters carrying soldiers from the elite 669 search and rescue unit were dispatched to Jordan to help locate students still missing.

Soldiers are “doing everything in their abilities to assist the survivors in the area of the despite the weather conditions,” the army says.

The dispatching of IDF troops comes despite diplomatic tensions between Jerusalem and Amman over King Abdullah II’s decision to not renew clauses in the peace treaty between the countries leasing Jordanian lands to Israel.

The AFP news agency reported eight students were killed in the flood and another 11 injured. It was not immediately known how many students were missing.