Tragedy in Eilat: a 50-year-old diver drowned in the Red Sea

A man, a 50-year-old diver, was pulled unconscious from the sea in Eilat by the maritime police today (Friday), and was brought to meet with MDA teams at the city's Electric Beach. Medics and paramedics gave him medical treatment on the spot and performed CPR on him, eventually declaring him dead. This is the second drowning event that happened in the southern region in a short time, when earlier it was reported that a one and a half year old baby had died after drowning in a home pool in the settlement of Beer Ganim.

The scene of the event in Eilat (Photo: Documentation of MDA operations)

MDA paramedic, Yohai Deri, said: "We joined the electric beach with a marine police boat that rescued the diver who was unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. We were told that he dived to a depth of tens of meters, got into trouble and a diver who was with him called for help. We gave him medical treatment and performed prolonged resuscitation operations, but his condition was critical and in the end we had to pronounce him dead."

The police opened an investigation into the diving accident. Marine police forces and investigators were called to the scene of the incident and are collecting findings and evidence.