A couple who drowned after getting stuck in a lift in rising floodwaters have been named.
Tragic Dean Shoshani and Stav Harari, both 25, were killed when the lift got stuck because of an electrical fault.
Authorities in Israel say the pair died as it filled with rising rainwater in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, as the country was battered by stormy weather .
They were trying to get to the building's car park when it happened.
Rescue crews had to use scuba gear in an attempt to rescue the pair from the submerged lift, but they were pronounced dead in hospital, according to local reports.
The lift had been hit by an electrical short-circuit in the flooded basement of a residential building in the city on Saturday afternoon, reports the Jerusalem Post .
Emergency services managed initially to rescue the man, who was aged in his 30s, about 3pm local-time but he died in hospital a short time later.
Two hours later rescuers reached the woman, who was unconscious and in a critical condition, but they were unable to save her.
“One of the [two] was rescued and brought to us, unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing whilst suffering from hypothermia,” Magen David Adom medic Yosef Nahon told the Post.
“We gave him medical treatment and gave him life-saving treatment while he was being evacuated to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv in critical condition.”
Widespread storms lashing Israel has caused streets to flood and closed roads.
