Ashdod’s Lido Beach tuned into a rescue scene on Sunday night, the eve of 15 Menachem Av 5773 as EMS and marine search units were fighting the clock in an effort to find a 46-year-old avreich who went under the water after running in to save a child.

Ichud Hatzalah EMT Moshe Weizman explained that it appears the father lost eye contact with his children, who were in the water, and ran into the water to find/save them, assuming the worst. At about 22:00 Ichud Hatzalah reported the search was ongoing for the avreich, whose lifeless body was extricated from the

water later on. CPR was initiated. Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller reported that at some point the decision was made to pronounce the man dead on the scene.

Yehuda Shovel of Zaka confirmed the father ran into the water in an effort to save his children, who he thought were drowning. Shovel explains Zaka rescue began searching for the father, whose body was found after a relatively short time.

The children were all unharmed and left the water on their own. The father, Rav Shmuel Shimon Avraham z”l, was a rebbe in a Beit Shemesh cheider is survived by his wife and six children. The levaya began on Monday morning, 15 Menachem Av 5773 at 11am in the Beit Shemesh Cemetery.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)