Boy rescued after eight hours in Dead Sea

An eight-year-old Israeli boy was found alive after spending six hours floating at night in the Dead Sea, rescue workers said today.

The boy went missing on a family trip to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth and one of Israel's most popular tourist attractions, where an abnormally high salt concentration allows swimmers to float on the water's surface.

Shneur Zalman Friedman, from an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Jerusalem, was at the sea with his father and two brothers on Thursday evening when strong currents swept him far from shore.

His father noticed he was missing at around 7pm, sparking a frantic search involving a police helicopter and dozens of workers combing the shoreline and criss-crossing the sea in motorboats, said Yehuda Meshi-Zahav of the Zaka rescue organisation.

Workers were discussing calling off the search minutes before volunteers in one of the boats spied the boy floating in the water two miles offshore past 1am, Meshi-Zahav said.

The boy was dehydrated and frightened but otherwise healthy, he said. Friedman remained calm throughout the ordeal, telling his rescuers that he said prayers and thought about his school friends as he floated in the water, Meshi-Zahav said.

The unique waters of the Dead Sea helped keep the boy afloat but could have been fatal had he panicked and swallowed large quantities, said Omer Cohen of the Megilot volunteer rescue unit. After hours of fruitless searching, workers had all but given up hope of finding the boy alive, Cohen said.

"We thought we were looking for a body, and we were surprised to find the boy alive and well," Cohen said.