Elderly Woman Rescued From Underground Waste Bin in Ashdod After Cat Rescue Attempt
An 89-year-old woman who went missing in Ashdod while feeding cats was rescued after falling into a 3-meter-deep underground waste container while trying to save a cat.
Great concern arose on Saturday morning in Ashdod after an 89-year-old woman left her home as usual to feed cats and disappeared.
Family members who could not contact her reported her missing, prompting extensive searches across the city. The search operation involved forces from the Israel Police and volunteers from the Ashdod branch of United Hatzalah, following a specific Halachic permit issued by the organization's rabbi, Rabbi Halperin, due to concerns for her life.
After hours of searching, she was located around noon by United Hatzalah volunteers Chaim Gottesman and Effi Greidinger inside an underground waste container buried about 3 meters deep.
An initial inquiry revealed that during the morning she went out to feed cats and noticed a cat that had fallen into the bin. She tried to rescue it and fell inside herself. Due to the depth of the container, her cries for help could not be heard from the outside.
The volunteers who found her called for rescue forces, threw her a bottle of water, and comforted her until the forces arrived. Firefighters rescued her from the container, and medical teams from United Hatzalah examined her on the spot before she was evacuated to the hospital suffering from exhaustion and mild signs of dehydration.
