Rescue operations for two girls swept away in the Jordan River are entering their second hour, according to Israeli media. The Lahava unit's divers are preparing for underwater searches after surface and riverbank scans were inconclusive.
The search for two girls swept away in the Jordan River near Lehavot HaBashan is entering a new phase: divers from the Lahava unit are preparing for underwater searches after approximately two hours of surface and riverbank scans were inconclusive, as reported by Guy Varon (N12). This development comes roughly an hour and a half after the initial report — a timeline that began when police launched a search at 17:51 Jerusalem on Saturday, following a report from friends who saw the teenagers disappear into the water.
The thread unfolded rapidly after the first police alert. By 17:51 Jerusalem, five fire and rescue crews had joined the effort alongside a helicopter, and by the same time (the versions were published near-simultaneously), police had issued an official briefing from Kiryat Shmona station deputy commander Chief Inspector Elad Ben Lulu — confirming the search remained active. Reports initially cited Israeli media (The Jerusalem Post, N12) and police statements; later versions sustained the same sourcing without on-record confirmation of identities or condition.
The location — Lehavot HaBashan, an agricultural community in the Upper Galilee near the Jordan River — was reported from the first alert onward, as The Zioneer noted in its initial coverage. No further context about the water conditions or the specific spot was provided in the thread. The wider background of recent rescue operations in northern streams (such as the Nahal Hatzatzon extraction reported on Sun Jun 21) underscores the seasonal risk during hiking and swimming, but no direct linkage to this incident is claimed.
As of 19:21 Jerusalem, the girls have not been located, and no information about their identities or condition has been released. The underwater search has not yet begun; divers are still preparing. The operation remains a search, not yet a recovery effort.
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