Police recommend indicting instructor for manslaughter in Zafit flash flood disaster
Investigation pinpoints guide Aviv Berdichev as having made decision to descend to stream despite all warnings and rain, leading to death of 10 teenagers; academy director faces death by negligence charges.
Police on Sunday transferred the investigation file into the death of 10 teenagers in the Zafit Steam disaster last month to the State Prosecutor's Office, reccomending that the instructor, Aviv Berdichev, be chagred with manslaughter. The director of the Bnei Zion pre-military academy, Yuval Kahan, faces an indictement for causing death by negligence.
Police said they had enough evidence to file the charges. It has not yet been decided whether to file an indictment and for what offenses against the counselor Noam Dor, who warned about the danger of flooding.
In the disaster, which occurred during a group trip by the Bnei Zion preparatory (pre-army) course candidates, the hikers were walking in the stream when it began to rain. Some of them were on the banks of the stream but the girls who were killed were at the bottom, and when the floodwaters came, they were carried away. The trip set out despite serious warnings about the danger of flooding in the area.
Police first received notice of the precarious situation at 1:22 pm on April 26.
Twenty-five students and three counselors took a three-day field trip. The original route of the trip was set in Nahal Tze'elim where they were supposed to stay in the camping grounds. But due to concerns of flooding, on the night of April 25 they decided to stay at the Camel Ranch in Ein Tamar.
It was then that they decided to cancel the original route of Nahal Tze'elim and look for an alternate route. In the morning it was decided to hike in two streams, Tamar Stream and Nahal Zafit; around 12:45 pm, the group descended into Nahal Zafit. Between 25 minutes and half an hour later, a flash flood, caused by all the rains that fell between 10 and 15 kilometers away, struck. The stream consists of a wide section that narrows as it progresses, and anyone trapped in the narrow section did not survive the stream, which became a death trap.
The police Fraud Unit launched an investigation and a special investigation team was set up, headed by Dep. Inspector Yossi Turgeman, the deputy commander of the District Police. Two teams went down to the field and a second crew arrived at Abu Kabir to identify the victims.
During the detention of the instructor and the director of the preparatory program, confrontations took place between them and others. The investigation included collecting testimonies from members of the academy and staff in its offices. The professionals with whom they were in contact with regarding the weather, including Meteotek, the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, an Air Force soldier and an expert on floods from the Water Authority, were also questioned. The same applies to those responsible for pre-army academies in the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defense.
The investigation team also conducted a tour of the area in order to understand the route of the trip and it was filmed using a drone. According to the investigation, Berdichev was the one who made the decision to descend to the stream despite all the warnings.
The guide had knowledge of all the weather factors, and he even received a warning from Meteotek that it was not a day for hiking. An Air Force officer with whom he consulted told him that he had no background in floods and lacked understanding on the matter. As soon as they began to descend into the stream it began to rain. As far as the interrogators are concerned, the guide was in the field and made the decisions, as opposed to Kahn who was not there.
Berdichev's attorney, Zion Amir, said that anyone can easily see that the police position lacks any legal basis.
Regarding legal measures against the guide Noam Dor, who happens to be the daughter of the deputy commander of the Arava region rescue unit, the police have not yet reached a decision.
Her father contacted her several times to warn about floods. She updated Berdichev on the matter. Her attorney Shachar Mandelman said: "We are pleased that the Police's recommendation clears the instructor of any suspicion and is confident that the State Attorney's Office will adopt this recommendation."
Kahan, the head of the academy, announced his resignation ten days ago: "Since the disaster, I have been torn and broken, and I will never be able to find words that can express the sorrow I feel." He gave a message to the media: "On the 11th of Iyar 5768 (Hebrew calendar date), a terrible and inconceivable disaster occurred in the pre-military preparatory program of Bnei Zion, which I lead.
“During the trip that was meant to foster the values of friendship and a love of the land, Yael Sadan, Adi Raanan, Agam Levy, Ilan Bar Shalom, Ellla Or, Gal Balali, Ma’ayan Barhum, Rumi Cohen, Shani Shamir and Tzur Alfi of blessed memory were killed. The head of the preparatory program is first and foremost an educational role that requires the full trust of the trainees, their families and all those who are involved in the program."
