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Druze firefighter dies saving life of Palestinian Arab in northern Israel

Another firefighter remains in critical condition.

By TPS and World Israel News Staff

Israeli-Druze firefighter Sergeant Adnan Asad from the Druze village of Beit Jann, located in the north of Israel on Mt. Meron, was killed on Sunday while attempting to save the life of a Palestinian man who fell into deep a pit.

Around 1 PM Sunday afternoon the Israel Fire and Rescue Department answered a call to save the 20-year-old, from Hebron, who fell into a pit about 8 meters deep (27 feet) in Deir al-Asad, an Arab town in the Galilee.

Teams from the special rescue unit of the Karmiel fire station arrived on the scene within a short time and began a rescue operation.

Upon the teams’ arrival, two firefighters entered the pit, but during the rescue operations contact was lost with them.

Additional rescuers who were on the scene and the fighters of the “Flame Unit” extracted the two firefighters and the Palestinian, all three of whom were in serious condition.

The three were all evacuated to the Nahariya hospital for medical treatment and both the Palestinian and Asad were later reported to have died.

Israel’s Druze have always accepted Israeli sovereignty and serve in its security forces such as the police and the IDF. Even though, like Jews, they consider themselves to be both a nation of people and a religion, they do not claim any territory as their homeland and give allegiance to whatever nation they reside in.

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Sergeant Adnan Asad was 40 years old at the time of his death, was married and had three children, the youngest of whom is only two months old.

The families of the fire fighters were informed of their situation by department officials.

The fire commissioner established an inspection team led by himself to investigate the circumstances of the incident.

In a statement Israel’s National Fire and Rescue Authority said that it “bows its head at the fall of the warrior (firefighter Asad) and participates in the grief of his family.”