Woman found dead after apparent fall in Ramon crater in south
Rescuers say 29-year-old found with extensive injuries and no signs of life in area reported to contain 200-meter drop at popular hiking, rappelling spot in Negev Desert
View of the Makhtesh Ramon, a crater in southern Israel, February 26, 2023. (Doron Horowitz/Flash90)
A 29-year-old woman died in the Ramon crater in southern Israel after apparently falling off a cliff, rescuers said Thursday morning.
Medics responding to a call just before 8 a.m. Thursday found the woman with extensive injuries and no signs of life “deep inside Ramon crater after she apparently fell from a height,” the Magen David Adom rescue service said.
She was declared dead at the scene.
No information about the woman was immediately available.
The local Beersheba Mynet news site reported that she was found in an area where there is an approximately 200-meter (650-foot) drop.
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No foul play is suspected, according to the report.
Popular with hikers, rock climbers, rappellers, tourists, geology enthusiasts and others, the Ramon crater is a large natural depression deep in the Negev desert, some 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Beersheba.
View from a hiking trail in the Ramon Crater, in southern Israel, on November 3, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90/File)
The crater is approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) long and as much as 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide, reaching a a depth of as much as 500 meters (1,640 feet) in some places.
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In 2017, a 22-year-old man died when he fell while preparing to rappel down a cliff in the Ramon crater, and in 2005, a 10-year-old boy died while hiking in the crater with his family when a wall of rocks fell, crushing him, according to contemporary news reports.
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