IAF: Human error likely cause of botched airlift rescue

An internal air force committee has determined on Friday that human error was the cause of an errant rescue attempt during which a stranded hiker fell to his death as he was being airlifted into a helicopter.

The family of Ala Aghbariya, the hiker who was photographed plunging to his death after being extricated from a minefield near the frontier with Jordan, received the interim conclusions of the air force inquiry. The panel was appointed by air force commander General Ido Nehushtan.

The air force interim report found that there was no technical error or malfunction in the equipment used or with the helicopter's operational systems. Rather, it is believed that the rescue crew's misjudgment during the operation was the cause of the accident. The IDF Spokespersons Unit said the army joins the family in mourning Aghbariya.

Aghbariya, 24, wandered into the minefield and was wounded after stepping on an anti-personnel mine. A 669 helicopter arrived to extricate him from the vicinity. As the airlift progressed, the chopper reached an altitude of between 70 and 100 meters. It is at this point in which Aghbariya slipped through the grasp of the 669 soldiers.

Immediately after the incident, officials in the air force and Unit 669 said that such an error could only be the result of faulty fastening of the person to the rescue cord.

Hadash MK Afou Agbaria criticized the interim findings, terming them "negligence in the best-case scenario, and a cover-up in the worst-case scenario."