Israel

Survivors shed tears of joy at being home

Published

10 years ago

Oct 19, 2014

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ANT KATZ

SAJR thanks the MDA team on the ground for these exclusive pictures (see below) and Mark Hyman in particular, who has spent the best part of his day sourcing the pictures for us. While we unfortunately have no names or captions, the pictures depict all the drama and joy of the survivors as they landed.

Nepal0 The Hadassah Medical Organisation sent a special rescue flight to repatriate the injured hikers, an HMO spokesman said, while an unnamed Israeli businessman also reportedly donated his private plane to fly the injured back to Israel.

So far, 25 of the fatalities have been identified, including those from Canada, India, Israel, Slovakia, Poland and Japan. Eight of the dead were Nepalese. Thirteen others have not yet been identified.

Most of the people were on or near the Annapurna Circuit, a 220-kilometre trail through the mountain, the 10th-highest in the world. The biggest number of casualties was among those caught in the blizzard on Thorong La pass, which is one of the highest points on the Annapurna.

The three deceased are: Nadav Shoham, Agam Luria, 23, and Lt Tamar Ariel, 24. (the first Israeli dati (religious) woman to become an Israeli Air Force combat navigator.

EXCLUSIVE PICS BELOW

Another Israeli woman, Michal Cherkasky, 36, is among those who went missing during the horror storm. Cherkasky was last seen by survivors of the storm stumbling and struggling to hike in the scenic Annapurna Circuit, Chabad emissary to Nepal and may well become the storm’s 4^th Israeli victim.

Six of the injured Israelis suffered from various degrees of frostbite and the vision of one of the repatriated injured was impaired. Magen David Adom EMS evacuated the injured to Hadassah University Medical Centre in Jerusalem and to Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Hashomer.

The recovery team was headed by Prof Avi Rivkind, head of the Hadassah-University Medical Centre’s trauma and emergency department, and Dr Julius Golander, a paediatric cardiologist, who helped repatriate a two-week old new-born suffering from a cardiac defect, not connected to the avalanche.