3 Israelis killed in flood from rare cloudburst

JERUSALEM, May 12 (Reuters) A flash flood killed three Israeli hikers today near the biblical Dead Sea in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli rescue worker said.

The flood, which swept over a portion of a main highway along the frontier with neighbouring Jordan, was caused by a rare spring cloudburst in parts of Israel and the Palestinian territory.

Israeli army helicopters and Magen David Adom medics launched searches after reports that 11 hikers abseiling down a cliff in the Judean Desert had got stuck because of a flash flood in the Qumran river bed, to the east of Jerusalem.

Yinon Yerushalmi, an Israeli rescue worker, told Israel's Army Radio three hikers had been found dead and searches were being conducted for a fourth missing hiker.

''All four were attached to the same rope. When the flood began, it dragged them all down together,'' Yerushalmi said.

Seven other hikers were rescued safely, he added.

The Dead Sea area has been prone to flash floods in the past because it is located several hundred of metres (yards) below sea level. But heavy rains are rare in spring in the arid Middle East where most precipitation falls in winter.

REUTERS SS PM2146