Two victims from Sea of Galilee drownings buried

Two people who were drowned last week in the Sea of Galilee were buried Tuesday, a day after their submerged bodies were found in the lake.

Liron Kardi, 17, was buried in the city of Or Akiva and Nahman Itah, 21, was buried in Jerusalem. Both funerals were attended by hundreds.

The burials came as police, the navy, rescue services and volunteers continued to search for a third man, Itamar Ohana, 19, from the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, who also went missing out on the water amid heavy weather last Wednesday.

Police said the two bodies were found in the same area of the Sea of Galilee and that they were discovered by police boats using “advanced equipment.”

Hebrew media reports said the bodies were located with the help of sonar devices provided by the Israeli Navy.

Police said they were continuing to search for Ohana in the same area where the other two were found.

For nearly a week, police and rescue workers, along with the help of volunteers, scoured the Sea of Galilee in a massive search for the three.

On Sunday, the navy sent a specialized search ship and an elite team of divers in order to assist with the search efforts.

According to reports, all three disappeared in separate incidents as high winds blew across the lake.

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

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

גופותיהם של הנעדרים נחמן איטח ולירון כראדי אותרו בכינרת. יהי זכרם ברוךhttps://t.co/bKUuoTP9mr pic.twitter.com/v7Cg1TiR96

— מעריב אונליין (@MaarivOnline) April 17, 2017

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 last Monday night.