Father killed, 10-year-old son in critical condition after falling from cliff
Dr. Omri Nir dies while holding his son Ilai, who slipped while descending a ladder in a group hike in the Negev; Ilai's condition worsens in second day in hospital; he suffers from serious head trauma.
Dr. Omri Nir died on Friday afternoon when he and his 10-year-old son, Ilai, fell from a cliff at the Tze'elim Stream, and the son remains in critical condition, which further deteriorated on Saturday. The father held his son to his body as the pair fell, absorbing most of the impact.
Whilst on the hike, the families were descending ladders along the stream's path when Ilai slipped and his father went to catch him. Ilai sustained injuries to his head and back and is hospitalized at Soroka Medical Center's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Be'er Sheva.
Rescuers on Friday; Inset: Omri Nir (Photos: Arad Rescue Unit, Hebrew University)
The father and son were part of a group hike for families from Kfar Vitkin, near Netanya. Approximately 15 children aged 6 to 10 took place, each accompanied by one parent. One of the other fathers, Udi Segal, said that they normally hold their hikes in the Carmel but decided this year to travel to the Negev.
Segal said, "I and another parent went down first and made sure that all the children were coming down. One of the kids was nervous about the descent on the rungs, and we were helping him. Then I heard a thud and saw a boy falling on his father. The father managed to hold him, and the two rolled towards the cliff. Another father held his son the whole time and an additional father managed to grab onto the cliff."
(Photo: Mika Ben Gigi)
Volunteers from Arad's rescue unit arrived shortly thereafter. Sahar Fisch, one of the volunteers, said that the two were found about 70 meters apart from each other, adding, "They rolled a few dozen meters from the cliff, and even the slightest movement in the area caused rocks to fall." A helicopter from the IAF's 669th Rescue Unit evacuated Ilai to the hospital.
Omri Nir
Segal said that it will be hard to forget the trauma. "All the children saw everything. They were sitting on the mountainside and saw the entire fall. There was a bit of hysteria because the kids didn't know who had fallen. Some of them thought that it was their father. The information went out on the media before the families knew, and it worried a lot of mothers. We sat and talked with the kids. The understood everything."
The news shocked the Kfar Vitkin community. Omri, a researcher of ethnic groups in the Middle East and the modern history of Lebanon at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was married with three children, including Ilai.
