Nahal Tzafit, where 10 students died in a flood, is a popular canyon trail
Extending for over 15 kilometers, the steep-walled route is prone to flash-flooding caused by rain in hills to the west
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
The canyon trail where 10 youths were killed Thursday is a popular hiking route known for a canyon with steep rock walls that cuts through the northeastern Negev and southern Judean Desert.
Nahal Tzafit is a riverbed that runs from some 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from Mishor Yamin to the Makhtesh Hakatan, a geological landform crater, before reaching the southern Dead Sea
The river is best known for its lower section, where hikers pass through the narrow, high-walled canyon.
Like many riverbed trails in the area, it is prone to flash floods caused by rainfall in the hills to the west.
The 10 fatalities — nine girls and one boy — were high school students on a field trip organized by a premilitary academy they had applied to. They were swept away in a torrential flood while hiking in the river bed.
Fifteen others were rescued, and two required medical treatment.
Hadashot TV news broadcast a video clip shot taken by a hiker barely two hours before the tragedy, showing the dry, boulder-strewn canyon.
The flash floods are notorious for the speed with which they arrive, giving little or no warning at all to hikers in the area.
כך נראה נחל צפית, כשעתיים לפני שהחל השיטפון אליו נקלעו הנערים והנערות
צילום: יוסי לאון DIB pic.twitter.com/wX1nTyOWQg— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) April 26, 2018
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