Florida Student Identified As American Tourist Who Died While Hiking Masada Amid Israeli Heatwave

 Florida State University International Programs says that an American tourist who has died while hiking Tuesday during a heatwave in Israel was a student participating in the university’s summer program hosted by the Rabin Center in Jerusalem.

Briana McHam, 20, of Pompano Beach, Fla. died during an excursion to Masada, which is under the authority of Israel’s National Park System.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the 20-year-old woman fell about 5 meters (about 16 feet) at the site of Masada on Tuesday, one of the hottest days of the year. He says the fall was not the cause of death but that the woman suffered dehydration after the fall, which then led to her death.

Other hikers noticed she had gone missing and her body was found after an hour.

Israel is experiencing a heat wave that sparked fires around the country earlier this week.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our students, who was at the beginning of a life of discovery broadening her horizons,” said Dr. James Pitts, director of International Programs. “Our hearts go out to her family, and we will assist them in any way we can, as well as other FSU students who might be affected during this difficult time.”

20 year old American girl dies after Fall at Masada

Scene of the accident at Masada

An American tourist was pronounced dead Tuesday after falling down an eight-meter drop during a hike up the "snake path" to Israel's ancient Masada fortress.

Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics rushed to the scene and attempted to resuscitate the 20-year-old woman, who has not yet been named, but eventually pronounced her dead at the scene.

MDA paramedic Uri Tzahi was among the first to reach the scene of the accident.

"Beneath the cliff we saw a young woman of about 20 lying unconscious, not breathing and with no pulse, with multiple injuries and signs of heat-stroke," he recounted. 

Recalling his team's desperate efforts to revive her, he said that despite providing emergency first-aid treatment and performing CPR, they were eventually forced to declare her dead.

Elsewhere, some 50 tourists in Nahal Og, north of the Dead Sea, were treated for dehydration as this week's mega-heatwave continues.

15 of them were taken from the area and given first-aid treatment by MDA medics, while other first-responders were forced to remain on the trail with an additional four tourists and a tour guide who were suffering from severe exhaustion and unable to leave of their own strength.

Emergency rescue teams are currently heading to the site to extract them.

25 girls from the US were evacuated to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital for further treatment.