A young Israeli woman (22) was killed while trekking in Bolivia on Wednesday. A 200 kilogram boulder somehow got dislodged, and crushed her leg. The woman, who was in critical condition, was evacuated on a makeshift stretcher that her Israeli friends concocted in the field after a helicopter was unable to get to her due to inclement weather conditions. The young woman was being carried by her friends to the nearest hospital when she died of her wounds. Her family has already been notified.
The young woman was a recently released soldier who was on her post-army trip to South America. She was hiking with friends and two local guides in the area known to Israelis as the “Southern Glacier” in the region of La Paz. The hikers traversed a mountain some 5,400 meters above sea level, when the boulder, some six feet in diameter fell off the mountain and struck the young woman. She suffered an open fracture. Her fellow hikers sent an emergency distress call via their satellite phone and asked that a helicopter be dispatched at once to their location.
The Klal Health Insurance company immediately dispatched their rescue team, Sital International, who sent a helicopter with a doctor on board to their location. Due to the harsh weather conditions and the heavy rain that was falling at the time of the accident, the helicopter was not allowed to lift off. Israel does not have an embassy in Bolivia after the Bolivian government asked for its closure following Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9. The Foreign Ministry asked Bolivian officials via their Peruvian Embassy to send a military helicopter to rescue the woman. However, the military helicopter was also unable to lift off in the adverse weather.
The Israelis placed a tourniquet on the woman in order to stop the bleeding, and lacking a helicopter, they built a makeshift stretcher for her and began carrying her down the mountain themselves. On the way, the woman lost consciousness and the Israelis began performing emergency CPR. After an hour and a half, they managed to climb down to the main highway where an ambulance was waiting for them. Unfortunately, none of the hiker’s medical interventions sufficed and the young woman died on her way to the hospital.
The Embassy in Peru, as well as the Foreign Ministry, are working to have the woman’s body returned to Israel for burial.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
BDE. Over the years, we have encountered many young men an women from EY who have similiarly completed their service to the medinah and were taking a few months off before resuming their college studis or beginning a ne job. When hiking in the Patagonia region of Southern Argentina, we were surprised to see directional and other trail signs in Hebrew until we quickly began encountering many wonderful “IDF grads” on the trails, not unlike this woman who obviously was willing to incur some risk to climb at these elevations. It so sad that after safely completing her military servie she tragically loses her life in such a tragic accident. Hashem yarachem on her family and friends.