Israeli died of epileptic seizure during dive in Sinai, lifeguards didn’t know CPR — husband

Orit Peled, an Israeli woman who drowned while on vacation with her husband in the Sinai Peninsula over the weekend, had an epileptic seizure while diving, and local lifeguards didn’t have sufficient knowledge of CPR to save her life, her husband charges.

Peled, 49, died while staying with her husband at a resort in the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, located on the southern tip of the Egyptian peninsula — a popular tourist destination for Israelis.

צלילה פשוטה עם שנורקל הסתיימה בטרגדיה
אורית פלד, תושבת פרדסיה בת 49, היא הישראלית שטבעה למוות בשארם א-שייח שבמצרים. בעלה איציק מתח ביקורת על התנהלות צוותי ההצלה המקומיים: "במשך שעה היא שכבה על המזח, לא נושמת וללא דופק, ואף אחד לא ידע מה לעשות". הלווייתה של פלד צפויה להיערך הערב. pic.twitter.com/v9qYzF5x58

— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) June 19, 2022

Her husband, Itzik, tells Channel 13 news that Orit was an experienced diver who traveled to Sinai two or three times a year to dive.

“She said there was no place like it in the world,” he says, adding that she was an “amazing person.”

He says that while Orit had epilepsy, “she was with a guide at all times who held her hand. She took medications and didn’t have seizures all the time.”

On Friday, the couple went to a beach familiar to Orit, where she wanted to snorkel.

“I was afraid, but she wanted it,” he says. “She took me with her and I dived. After 30 minutes I went onto the wharf and she continued. I suddenly saw something wasn’t okay. I called a lifeguard and told him to go in the water, but they didn’t know how to perform CPR. They had no equipment. There was a tourist who did CPR on her, but it didn’t help.”