Bedouin join mourners of ‘hero’ who save four from drowning

Jewish and Bedouin mourners joined together Sunday at the Ashkelon funeral of 45-year-old Micheal Ben-Zikri.

JULY 5, 2020 18:55

Rescue team sent to search for the man who saved a family of four from drowning (photo credit: FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE) — Rescue team sent to search for the man who saved a family of four from drowning

(photo credit: FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE)

Jewish and Beduin mourners joined together Sunday at the Ashkelon funeral of 45-year-old Michael Ben-Zikri, who rescued a 40-year-old woman and her three children from drowning on Friday.

Ben-Zikri, from Ashdod, didn’t have the strength to save himself after saving the distressed swimmers in a man-made lake near Zikim, after they apparently fell into sinkholes.

The members of the rescued family, from the Beduin village of Hura, including a 14-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl, were released from Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon on Sunday.

Their father, interviewed on KAN radio, expressed his remorse and gratitude for Ben-Zikri’s efforts, whom he labeled a hero. Many residents of Hura attended Ben-Zikri’s funeral in solidarity with the family.

Ben-Zikri’s wife Tali, who was with him at the lake, told the KAN Drom website that they had gotten married in February. “He was a good man, there wasn’t a second thought that he wouldn’t try to save that family.”

On Sunday, questions were raised as to why the lake wasn’t fenced off, if the sinkholes posed a danger?

“If they know there are sinkholes why are they leaving it open?” Ben-Zikri’s brother-in-law said to Channel 13.