The policemen who rescued the survivor in the crash: "We arrived in complete darkness and then we saw a man holding a buoy"

The Coastal District Marine Police Team was the first to arrive at the scene of the bat helicopter crash off the coast of Haifa.

They spotted Captain Ron Birman flashing through his cell phone, and managed to pull him out of the water.

"Emotions are mixed. We saved Ron, but we were unable to rescue the two pilots alive."

Yoav Itiel

05/01/2022

Wednesday, 05 January 2022, 16:20 Updated: 17:03

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In the video: From the rescue efforts, following the helicopter crash last night near the shores of Haifa (Photo: IDF Spokesman)

"It was an unusual, complex and difficult incident in all respects," concluded the Hof District Maritime Police Commander, Superintendent Erez Yehuda, today (Wednesday), whose ship first reached the helicopter that crashed off the coast of Haifa and rescued the only crew member who survived the incident. The deadly, Captain Ron Birman.

"Emotions are mixed. On the one hand we saved Ron, but we were not able to rescue the two pilots in life. It is also difficult personally. These are people we know, work with and practice locating missing persons and rescues all the time."

Corporal Yehuda was at his home in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood of Haifa, when the phones started arriving at the police hotline around 20:55, and civilians reported a fireball falling into the water in front of the Shikmona area, and even a crashed aircraft. , Received more intelligence data and within minutes, when more and more reports arrived that were also accompanied by a report of a pungent odor of fuel, they realized that this was an unusual incident.

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Arrived within 7 minutes.

Corporal Erez Yehuda and Corporal Yariv Malka (Photo: Israel Police Spokeswoman)

At the time, the naval police base in the port of Haifa was guarded by the on-duty commander, Sergeant Yariv Malka, 49, 25 years in naval policing, and his crew member, Sgt. Dudi Alkabetz. They did not wait, and left the arena at 21:02, about 7 minutes after the report from HaMoked.

"Throughout

the incident, the returning police ship and the unit commander, Chief of Staff Yehuda, were in constant contact with coastal stations of the Navy and the Control Center and with the Air Force.

The Air Force knew about this incident because they had disappeared from the radar and the fact that he was already with a helicopter in the air that marked us at the spot the crash site, but somehow this information remained in the Air Force and it took time for ground and other army forces until they realized what happened. "Oceanographic, we saw the helicopter in the air flying low and marked the place of the crash. We arrived in complete darkness and then we noticed a man holding the red buoy in the sea."

"There was complete darkness, high waves and currents."

Searches for helicopter fragments (Photo: Flash 90, Shir Torem)

At the heart of a large fuel spot in the water that smelled in the distance was Captain Ron Birman, which shone in the direction of the approaching ship.

It then turned out that he had used his cell phone to illuminate in their direction.

Police then spotted another glitter on the ship that automatically acted on the red buoy, part of the helicopter's buoyancy system that was activated with the crash.

"In the water I see that it's an officer with overalls, with the rank of major, and around you notice helicopter wrecks. The excitement is great of course, and we approach him to get him on the ship."

"It is not trivial, it was a very dark night with half a meter waves, the water was completely black, with currents. It is not a swimming pool. They did it according to a human rescue procedure," Yehuda explained.

"When we got closer we both sent him hands and pulled him and when half his body was on the ship he was already helping and boarded. A great miracle that a man survived such an event. He is a strong guy," Malka added, "in those moments he was shocked and exhausted from the crash "Two pilots, his two friends who tried to open the doors for them and failed and meanwhile the helicopter sank for him. We announced this and invited divers."

Capt. Ron Birman with Air Force Commander Amikam Nurkin at the hospital, yesterday (Photo: IDF Spokesman)

"In events like this you function on an automaton."

Corporal Erez Yehuda (Photo: Israel Police Spokeswoman)

Captain Ron Birman, who was pulled from the sea, smelling of fuel, told the naval police team that he tried four times to get in and pull them out. "He said that at some point he even pulled a hand that he felt and tried, but did not go. After until he could no longer because he was breathing fuel vapor and his whole body was already burning from the fuel he stopped. "Maybe one of the pilots rescued himself and will be there, but unfortunately in vain."

Around 9:30 p.m., a Navy bee ship arrived and took command.

The naval police ship returned to its base in the port of Haifa.

On the way, Malka contacted Erez, the commander of the MDA's Carmel area, who promised that an ambulance would be waiting for her with a paramedic. Malka accompanied him to the ambulance. Malka accompanied him on the short distance, about a kilometer, from the base in the port to the Rambam Hospital emergency room.

"We kept talking to him all the time, in the shock room we were already waiting for a team with the hospital director Prof. Mickey Halbertl," Malka said. A police beach lined with Deputy Amir Goldstein sailed again towards the place to see if it was possible to help.

There were already special forces there that took care of it. "

The wreckage of the plane at the crash scene, Monday (Photo: Shlomi Gabay)

"In such incidents you function on an automaton and only after you finish handling the incident do you start thinking the thoughts," added the commander of the Maritime Police Unit, Major General Erez Yehuda, "after such an incident it is clear that you think so or so.

Another half minute ahead, they might have landed on the beach.

Maybe they would have been able to loosen the belts.

"Obviously the thoughts are running in my head that they were not saved, that maybe they could have been saved.

"

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