Missing Negev man found dead in flooded creek bed

Negev sub-district police said there is also a second body believed to be the man who went missing with him on Wednesday.

By BEN HARTMAN
A man walks through flooded Kibbutz Nitzanim 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
A man walks through flooded Kibbutz Nitzanim 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
                 
Rescue personnel found the corpses of two men in a flooded creek bed near Arad on Saturday evening.
One belonged to a man who been had been missing since Wednesday night.
Negev Subdistrict police believe the second body belongs to another man who went missing along with the first on Wednesday, but said that due to the difficult weather, they would only be able to evacuate and identify it on Sunday morning.
For the past few days, police and rescue personnel have been searching across the Negev for the two men, Marai Elsana, 25, and Sharif Elsana, 22, both from the village of Tarabin near Rahat.
Negev Subdistrict chief Dep.-Ch. Peretz Amar met with the parents of the two men, and briefed them about the rescue efforts that would continue on Sunday morning.
Also on Saturday, in Lod’s Ramat Eshkol neighborhood, a fire caused by a space heater killed a baby boy in his family’s apartment.
On Friday night, a 36-year-old Rishon Lezion man died when he slipped and fell off the roof of his building while trying to fix a leak in the pouring rain.
Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino said on Saturday that he hoped Highway 1 between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv would be open to all traffic by Sunday morning.
He said police also hoped that schools would be open by Sunday morning, but that the decision was up to the Education Ministry.
He said police advised the public on Thursday afternoon to avoid driving to Jerusalem this weekend, if at all possible, but that many did not heed the warning.
On Saturday, National Police headquarters said it was focusing on saving lives and opening streets closed to traffic because of the weather.
Police asked the public not to approach downed power lines and to practice great caution when driving, due to icy streets. They advised people taking to the outdoors to see the storm to be very careful where they drive or hike. The warning was especially relevant for areas where there are nearby mine fields, such as on the Golan Heights, because the heavy rains could have dislodged the mines and sent them to unmarked areas, police said.
By Saturday night, there were still an estimated 28,000 households without electricity, including around 17,000 in Jerusalem, the Israel Electric Corporation said. For the past two days, police, border police, paramedics and rescue personnel from local authorities as well as the Jewish National Fund have worked to find and evacuate people trapped by snow and flood waters.