Man and woman rescued from capsized catamaran
Photo: Oren Bar-Oz, Ronen Bussi and Oleg stolvetzor
Man and woman rescued after boat capsizes near Hadera
Rough seas caused catamaran to capsize and its mast to break; the couple, in their 50s, spent an hour and a half at sea until spotted by chance by other sailors, who rescued them.
A man and woman in their 50s were rescued Saturday after their boat had capsized off the coast of Hadera.
“We saw them in the water by chance,” said the three sailors who helped them. “They were frightened and exhausted. They are lucky we saw them.”
Capsized catamaran (Photo: Oren Bar-Oz, Ronen Bussi and Oleg stolvetzor)
The couple set sail out of the Sdot-Yam beach on a catamaran boat. When they were in the vicinity of the Hadera shore, a big wave and strong winds caused the catamaran to capsize. The two freed themselves from the boat’s ropes and remained seated on the bottom of the capsized catamaran, which was still afloat.
צילום: אורן בר עוז, רונן בוסי ואולג סטולבצור
They spent about an hour and a half in the water and were then spotted by three friends who sailed in their vicinity and spotted them.
“We happened to sail by and saw them on the bottom of the catamaran. They were distressed, helpless, frightened and exhausted,” the three said.
Dingy dragging the capsized catamaran (Photo: Oren Bar-Oz, Ronen Bussi and Oleg stolvetzor)
They three sailors then helped the couple up to their boat. “They were thirsty, so we first gave them water and fruit. We then tried to turn their catamaran back but couldn't. A boat from the sailing club and one other that sailed by also tried but we couldn't make it turn,” they added.
Only when the naval police patrol arrived they were finally successful. “We discovered that the mast broke when the boat forcefully capsized. We then dragged it to the Mevo'ot Yam beach. They couldn’t stop thanking us,” the three said.
Earlier on Saturday, a 23-year-old-man drowned in the nearby undesignated Ma'ayan Tzvi beach. A 50-year-old-man was rescued from another undesignated beach in Herzliya and later died in Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba.
So far this year, 150 people almost drowned in Israel, 51 had drowned, 13 of whom were children under the age of 10. Last season, the number of casualties was 39, Magen David Adom’s records show.
