AP
 
Jerusalem, Aug 6: An eight-year-old Israeli boy was found alive after spending six hours floating at night in the Dead Sea, rescue workers said on Sunday August 5. 

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 neighborhood of Jerusalem, was 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 7:00 p.m., sparking a frantic search. A police helicopter and dozens of workers combed the shoreline and crisscrossed the sea in motorboats looking for him, said Yehuda Meshi-Zahav of the Zaka rescue organisation.

After 1 am, just as workers were discussing calling off the search, volunteers spied the boy floating in the water two miles offshore, Meshi-Zahav said.

The boy was dehydrated and frightened but otherwise healthy and told rescuers he said prayers and thought about his 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.

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