A tragic incident saw an Israeli man dying to save save his 10-year-old son when the two fell off a cliff during a hike in the Nahal Tze’elim in southern Israel
Israeli man Omri Nir with son Illai. Pic/Facebook Elgndy Klodlemos
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A tragic incident saw an Israeli man dying to save save his 10-year-old son when the two fell off a cliff during a hike in the Nahal Tze’elim in southern Israel.
The incident occurred when the boy Illai Nir was climbing a ladder attached to a cliff on the Nahal Tze’elim trail in the Judean Desert, near Masada, when he fell.
When Illai fell, witnesses said that father Dr Omri Nir quickly leapt after his 10-year-old son who had fallen. Unable to catch him in time, the father also went over the cliff's edge and hugged his son, acting as his bodily shield for the entire fall.
Rescue workers said the father was able to wrap himself around Illai and prevent some injuries but died in the whole process. Nir was a lecturer on the modern history and politics of Lebanon at the Hebrew University, Ben-Gurion University and Tel Aviv University.
Illai survived but was semi-conscious, while the arrival of rescuers was delayed by the lack of a phone connection as well as by the remote location. He was taken by helicopter to a hospital in the Israeli city of Beersheba, where he died from his injuries.
The family decided to donate the boy's organs.