On the brink of disaster • Yeshiva students were rescued from the Judean Desert

This time it ended well: two yeshiva students from Jerusalem, were rescued last night
(Wednesday), from the Judean Desert, after the two youngsters aged 20, left on their
bicycles in the morning on their way from Jerusalem to Gush Etzion, and then planned to
visit the Dead Sea through the Judean desert.

But young people were not equipped with a proper map; they lost their way and needed
rescue. One of the boys called his father at about 18:00, and he phoned the Megilot Rescue
Unit and asked for help.

A team of ten volunteers from the Megilot Rescue Unit with four jeeps arrived at the area,
and after a long time the exhausted boys were rescued.

Nitai Reich, a volunteer at the rescue unit told B'Chadrei Charedim that upon receiving the
call the unit volunteers set out, for the first time with a Hatzalah contributed tractor, to find
the cyclists.

The yeshiva cyclists did not know where they are, but thanks to the professional inquiry,
they soon realized where they were, a distance of about 40 kilometers away from where
they were supposed to be, and they were able to reach them.

"Besides for adequate water supply, they were not prepared for a track of this kind," says
Nitai, "They were clad in yeshiva clothing which includes a white shirt and regular pants,
without warm clothing. The map they took with them was old, and a road map without a
map of trails. They didn’t learn the area, did not check how long it should take, and thus
endangered themselves. "

"Extraction from the area lasted about forty minutes, and it seems that the boys have not
internalized what risk they took on themselves," said Nitai, "We offered them to come to
their yeshiva to speak to the boys, how to prepare for trips, but in the meantime they were
reluctant to accept the offer, and it is a shame"

One of the Megilot rescue unit volunteers invited the boys to sleep at his home tonight, and
tomorrow the boys will return home.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!