Capt. Ron Birman, who was moderately injured in the “Bat” marine helicopter crash last Monday, met with the naval police team that rescued him from the fatal helicopter crash. At the exciting meeting, the police said: “We are happy to see you when you talk to us after we raised you, that you are in a good, healthy and complete condition, it is a great excitement for us.” Police added that “it’s a miracle you survived it.”
Captain Birman answered the policemen and thanked them: “Thank you very much, it’s exciting to see you after you pulled me out of the water.” The policemen replied that “this is our duty, and we will do the same thing a hundred more times.”
This morning, a citizen who was walking on the beach in the morning, discovered a bag that had been swept away from the sea. He called the police station and reported finding the case. Patrol officers from the Zevulun station picked him up and it soon became clear that the bag belonged to one of the pilots killed in the tragic incident.
Yesterday (Tuesday) a preliminary investigation of the crash was published from which it emerged that a serious malfunction in one of the helicopter engines put the crew in a state of emergency landing. A fire broke out in one of the motors which apparently caused a power outage and therefore no report was made in connection with the fault. The pilots, Major Chen Fogel and Lt. Col. Erez Shahayani managed to bring the helicopter into landing position on the sea and thus prevented a major disaster.
Marine patrol officer Captain Ron Birman who was moderately injured told the hospital that before the crash he saw smoke coming into the helicopter and shortly afterwards they hit the water. Managed to extricate himself and repeatedly rescued both pilots but to no avail.
Marina, Birman’s mother, told Golan Yokfaz and Anat Davidov on 103FM this morning about the excitement of having her son back, “a great miracle and we are grateful for that. Thank you for what happened.”
(Watch the meeting)