Comptroller to Investigate Flood Disaster

The national furor over the flash flood disaster which took the lives of ten Israeli teens on Thursday continued as State Comptroller Yosef Shapira said on Sunday that he intends to investigate.

Earlier in the day, police raided the Bnei Tzion pre-military academy in Tel Aviv, which took the students on a hike to the south despite flood warnings. During the raid, police confiscated documents and computers, The Times of Israel reported.

Two school officials remained in police custody on suspicion of criminal negligence for authorizing the trip without approval from the Education Ministry.

Principal Yuval Kahan and counselor Aviv Bradichiv had their remands extended for five days on Friday in Be’er Sheva Magistrate’s Court due to what the judge termed “contradictions in their versions of events.”

The Education Ministry said it will form a committee to evaluate procedures for ensuring safety in field activities of pre-military academies. Defense Ministry representatives and members of the council of pre-military preparatory academies will participate.

No one at the school or in the ministries has been willing to take responsibility for the tragedy.

The preparatory programs are funded equally by the Ministries of Education and Defense. As a private institution, Bnei Tzion is not legally required& to secure approval for such trips from the Education Ministry, which claimed it had not been notified in advance of Thursday’s trip.