A little over a day after Asher Hazut, 14, suffered critical injuries when he was hit by lightning at Zikim Beach on Israel's southern coast, he succumbed to his injuries Wednesday at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, where medical staff had been battling to save his life.
Hazut was laid to rest in Beersheba Wednesday evening. Thousands attended his funeral.
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Bezalel Hazut, Asher's brother, said, "He was a good Torah scholar and I hope things will be good for him in Heaven."
Asher's sister-in-law Efrat, 30, was also injured in the lightning strike on Tuesday and is still hospitalized in serious condition, also at Barzilai Medical Center. Three other family members were injured to various degrees.
On Wednesday, messages exchanged by family members who were not with Asher and the others at the beach were made public. The first message includes a link to a news item about the lightning strike. One member of the messaging group asks, "Who is critically injured???"
The messages continue to try and clarify who had been injured, if at all. One reads, "Mom and Dad aren't answering, call Elazar [Asher's brother, who sustained moderate injuries from the lightning]."
Itamar Hazut, whose brother and sister-in-law were among the injured, recalled the events and his injured brother's heroic actions immediately after the strike: "My brother was resuscitating his wife, and tried to take care of the other three brothers, all while his hand and leg were paralyzed. They were about to head home when the lightning bolt struck them all."
Itamar, who was not with them at the beach, said, "They were walking in a line, and then everyone was thrown. My older brother Elazar was resuscitating his wife, Efrat, and saw that she was unconscious. While he was resuscitating her, he went back to our younger brothers to help them. He was calling for help, people called an ambulance, and somehow he managed to help the injured with a paralyzed arm, a paralyzed leg, and in a weakened state."
Asher's mother said her children enjoy spending time at the beach.
"They went out to have a beach day, have fun, calm down. When the rain started, they decided to go home, and then the deadly lighting struck," she said.
The bereaved mother said that her family is observant and both she and her husband are teachers in the religious school system.
"As people of faith, it's clear that this could not have been foreseen. Weather can be deadly. We are praying and we welcome the help from the people of Israel, and ask that they keep praying for our children's safety," she said.
On Wednesday, Zikim Beach was empty.
"People are afraid to come, they think the beach is cursed," members of a nearby kibbutz said.
