(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Just a few days after a festive Chanukah ceremony to inaugurate a new ZAKA Search and Rescue sonar device for use in underwater missing person searches, the sonar device was already operational. It was used by the ZAKA Divers Unit volunteers in an underwater search of the Alexander River in central Israel for a 35-year-old man who was reported missing in the area, after heavy flooding. Following a methodical search by ZAKA divers, in cooperation with the emergency rescue services, the man’s body was located in the area.

The sonar device, which cost over $60,000, is a significant addition to the diving unit’s operational capabilities, shortening the time required to locate and identify missing people in murky waters. The sonar can descend to a depth of 150 meters and scan within 130 meters, quickly identifying objects and transferring the information and exact location to the device operator.

Speaking at the ceremony in Tel Aviv, ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi Zahav said: “During Pesach 2017, volunteers from the ZAKA diving unit were sent to the Kinneret in search of three boys who had drowned. The searches, which were conducted in cooperation with the naval police, took about a week until the missing boys were located and retrieved. It was so difficult to face the sorrow of the families as they waited at the waters’ edge for news. It was only when the Navy entered the search that, with the help of their sonar device, the boys were finally found, and the family’s anguished wait came to an end. At that time, we decided to purchase a sonar device for the ZAKA Diving Unit, which will allow us to react faster, and locate missing persons in underwater searches.”

ZAKA Special Units Commander Chaim Outmezgine added: “Since the establishment of ZAKA’s naval unit, we have been constantly advancing in our mission to offer a more professional and faster response in locating missing persons in the water.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)