Flash flood kills 10 teenagers in Israel

Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu:

Flash flood in southern Israel has so far killed a total of 10 Israeli teenagers, as the body of a missing student was discovered on Friday.

Israel authorities confirmed the deaths of the other nine victims on Thursday evening.

The 10 students were among a group of 25 students on a hike organised by Bnei Zion pre-military academy.

They went hiking in the Tzafit wadi when the flood occurred.

Search and rescue teams, police and helicopters scrambled on Thursday afternoon to locate the group of teenagers and rescued 15, two of whom were slightly injured.

Police questioned three staff members from the Tel Aviv-based institution that organised the trip.

Two of the staff members remain under arrest, while a third one is under house arrest.

One of the two arrested is the academy Principal Yuval Cohen, who was charged over causing deaths by negligence of the teenagers, who were killed during the trip, in spite the hazardous weather warnings.

The funerals of the 10 students were held on Friday in their respective hometowns.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote on Twitter on Thursday evening that “the State of Israel mourns the promising young lives that were cut short by this tragedy in the Arava.”

(Xinhua/NAN)