3 Rafters Go Missing On The Sea Of Galilee

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By JTA April 13, 2017

(JTA) — Israeli authorities ramped up efforts to find three people who went missing while rafting on the Sea of Galilee.

Itamar Ohana, 19, Nahman Itah, 21, and a third unnamed 17-year-old went missing Wednesday in three separate incidents, the Times of Israel reported. Israeli authorities began the search Wednesday and continued overnight, and were joined Thursday by additional personnel and volunteers.

Some 80 people were rescued from the lake this week amid heavy winds.

Israel’s largest freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee is popular with Israeli vacationers during this week’s Passover holiday, and authorities warned bathers about venturing from shore in inflatable dinghies.

“We call on the vacationing public on the shores of the Kinneret to listen to the instructions of the life-guard service and to refrain from entering the water on beaches that don’t have life guards,” the Israeli life guard service said in a statement, using the Hebrew name for the Sea of Galilee.

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