Navy joins search for 3 missing on Sea of Galilee

The navy sent a specialized search ship and an elite team of divers Sunday to the Sea of Galilee to help in the search for three people who went missing last week after they were swept by winds away from the coast and into deeper water.

The three young men, lost on the lake in separate incidents on Wednesday, had all entered the water on blow-up rafts, but ran into trouble when winds picked up.

The assistance from the navy came after Interior Minister Aryeh Deri asked Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman to involve the military in the search, which is entering its fifth day.

In addition, police are continuing their search using boats and drones, and have asked volunteers to continue scouring the shore, especially in the areas where the missing men were last seen.

Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich visited the site of the search on Sunday, and said that the working assumption was that the three were no longer alive.

He said that the search for the bodies will continue both under the sea and on the shore.

“The navy’s sonar equipment, which is being used now, is a significant improvement in the search capability,” he said. “We hope that police and divers with the help of the navy will locate the missing boys.”

He warned, however, that “from past experience, an underwater search of such a large area can take many weeks.”

The three were named by Israeli media as Itamar Ohana, 19, from the northern city of Kiryat Shmona; Nahman Itah, 21, from the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit; and Liron Karadi, 17, from the coastal Israeli city of Netanya.

According to reports, during the morning Itah and his girlfriend set out on a floating raft from the Lavnun Beach camping resort on the eastern shore of the lake. Strong easterly winds and currents pushed them out into deeper water where the mattress overturned. A jet-ski rider was able to save the woman, but Itah was out of sight.

Later Wednesday morning, Karadi and another teenager, who also floated out on a blow-up raft, were swept out, after which the device became punctured. One of the teens was rescued, but Karadi was missing.

In the third incident, a number of teens set off from Lavnun on a floating mattress and were also taken westward, away from shore, by the wind. Two were able to swim back to shore but the third, Ohana, went missing.

Their disappearance came as more than 80 other people were rescued from the lake on Wednesday, as heavy winds surprised holiday bathers.

The Sea of Galilee is Israel’s largest freshwater lake, covering around 166 square kilometers (64 square miles). Its shores are lined with vacation sites that host tens of thousands of Israelis during the week-long Passover festival that began on Monday night.