Flash flood kills 10 teenagers in desert as unseasonable storm hits Israel

Following days of heavy rain and strong winds that killed 2 people in Israel and Palestine on April 25, flash floods claimed lives of 10 more people on April 26, 2018.

The Israeli police said an unseasonal storm hit Israel's southern desert on April 26 producing a flash flood that hit a group of 25 teenagers who went hiking in Nahal Tzafit, a riverbed in the southern Dead Sea area, killing 10 of them. The remaining 15 were rescued but 7 sustained serious injuries and are in critical condition, the police said.

A flash flood hit a group of 25 teenagers hiking in Israel’s southern desert on April 26, killing 10 of them as an unseasonal storm hit the region, Israeli police said. The casualties include 9 girls and 1 boy.

The rain caused flash floods throughout the Negev and West Bank and battered the rest of the country for the second day in a row.

One of the high school students killed today warned her friends a day earlier that she would die if the trip went ahead despite the severe weather warnings, The Times of Israel reports.

"I cannot believe I’m going on a trip in such weather," she told a group of friends in a WhatsApp group chat aired by Hadashot TV news. "It doesn’t make sense for us to go to a place where everything is flooding. It’s tempting fate — we’re going to die, I’m serious."

The paper said that the girl and the rest of her group were on a bonding hike for students who had been accepted to the Bnei Tzion pre-military academy in Tel Aviv for the coming year.

The Education Ministry said it was not informed of the students’ trip.

Featured image: Arutz Sheva TV