New York City: 14 yeshiva students were lost in the woods

A group of Yeshiva Maor Torah students went on a hike in the Bullstar Mountain, lost their way and were detected only five hours later - after midnight.

Rabbi Yekutiel Levy, mashgiach at the yeshiva, said that a group of 21 students at the yeshiva, vacationing at the Tashbar camp in Albany, left on Thursday for a walk in the mountain area, holding accurate maps of the route.

"When we got to the falls, the group split: seven boys returned back the same route, in order to take the car and wait for the second group at the end of the runway. The group which continued the track lost its way and at about 8 pm when it got dark, they decided to call the police and ask for help.

"The problem was that the cell phone connection was not clear, and police were unable to locate the boys. I went with a small group and waited for them at the end of the track. They did not come, and night had fallen, I found out that they lost their way. Police, the local sheriff, and rescue of the Catskill's established front command. It was already 11 pm and the group is still not found. Police catapulted a helicopter, Hatzalah brought flares, and the reserve catapulted the site guides, who went out with speakers to the area where the group was supposed to be. Only at 1:00 at night were the group identified and rescued safely."

Senior Rescue Catskills, said: "We had a problem finding the group since there was bad cell phone reception and we did not know where they are, the darkness and the forest hampered further on the rescue team. We were lucky that the group lit a fire, the boys were able to warm up a bit, because it is cold at night. Campfire helped the search team locate them.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!