Six beachgoers rescued from drowning incidents across Israel in five hours

Magen David Adom treated six people who drowned at different beaches across Israel within about five hours on Friday, in an unusually heavy string of incidents. The victims included one man in critical condition, two young men in serious condition, two people in moderate condition, and one person in mild condition.

The first incident happened at midday at an unguarded beach near Beit Yanai, where two people were rescued. Paramedics evacuated a 16-year-old boy in moderate condition and a 30-year-old man in mild condition to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center. About an hour and a half later, a man in his 20s drowned at Atlit beach and was pulled from the water unconscious. He was taken to Rambam Medical Center in serious condition. MDA senior medic Ido Alkalai said, "We saw the young man unconscious after he was pulled from the water. We provided life-saving medical treatment and evacuated him to the hospital in serious condition."

Later in the afternoon, two 21-year-olds drowned at Jerusalem Beach in Rishon LeZion. Lifeguards pulled them from the water and MDA evacuated them to Wolfson Medical Center, one in serious condition and the other in moderate condition. MDA said both were unconscious during the rescue.

The last incident took place in the evening at Delilah Beach in Ashkelon, where a man about 40 years old was pulled from the water after apparently losing consciousness because of a medical event. MDA performed prolonged resuscitation efforts and transferred him to Barzilai Medical Center in critical condition. Since the bathing season opened on April 9, MDA has handled 70 drowning cases nationwide, including nine deaths, four critical cases, seven serious cases, seven moderate cases, and 43 mild cases. The agency again urged the public to follow safety rules, swim only at beaches with lifeguards, and keep constant watch on children near water.