Israel - Three workers electrocuted to death at kibbutz

Three men were electrocuted to death on Thursday morning while working at a fish pond in Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar, near the entrance to the Hula Nature Reserve, northern Israel.

Magen David Adom emergency medical services arriving at the scene determined the cause of the men's deaths. The men, all in their 20s, reportedly worked at the kibbutz's fish ponds.

Early Thursday morning one of the men deployed a new device for feeding fish and entered the water. For a reason that is currently unclear but may be linked to a problem with the device, he was electrocuted.

A colleague entered the water to help him but was then electrocuted, as was a third colleague.

Another worker present at the site unplugged the device, retrieved his colleagues' bodies from the water and called for medical assistance.

Some four years ago, Sergei Kasharin, 33, was electrocuted while angling at a commercial fishing site in the Hula Valley. The man, from Kiryat Shmona, came to fish in a pond near the Yesud Hama'ala moshav.

When he lifted his fishing rod to cast it into the water, the rod hit a high-tension wire passing overhead and he was electrocuted and died.

In August 2010, Itai Freum, 5, was electrocuted in the Galei Gil swimming pool in Kiryat Motzkin. 

The police determined at the time that the electrocution was caused by neglect in the pool's electrical system.