Two Missing Girls Found Safe

Update: The girls have been confirmed found, baruch Hashem.

Helicopters spotted the girls who are knee deep in a swamp, in a deeply wooded area.

While they were only several thousand feet away, it took the rescue team almost an hour to get to them.

They are still working on rescuing the girls, and are using chainsaws to extricate them from the swamp.

Ambulances are nearby to take them to a hospital for medical care and they will be reunited with their families, people at the rescue site said.

By COLlive reporter

After a night of searching by volunteers from across the area, word has come that 2 individuals have been spotted in a deeply wooded area.

Rabbi Benjy Korf updated that 2 individuals were spotted in a swampy area, and will be very difficult to get to, and a helicopter can’t land there.

It is unknown whether the individuals are the 16-year-old Chabad girls who went missing on Motzoei Shabbos while on a Shabbaton trip with their class in Orlando, Florida.

Rivka Moshe and Brocha Katz, both students of Bais Chana High School, a division of the Lubavitch Educational Center of Miami, Florida, were last seen when they left for a walk on Shabbos afternoon, a relative said on social media.

Friends said the girls left Caribe Cove Resort by Wyndham Vacation Rentals in Kissimmee, where they were staying, at 3:00 pm and were supposed to return by 5:30 pm, but hours later they had still not returned.

This Caribbean-themed resort has Old Lake Davenport nearby and is surrounded by green woods. The area is called Four Corners, also known as Citrus Ridge.

Police are currently searching the area with helicopters and search dogs, the girls’ friends said.

Rabbi Benjy Korf, executive director of Lubavitch Educational Center in Miami, said “all authorities and resources are being used to finding these two girls.”

Korf added, “at the present time, the police and authorities on site have asked everyone not to interfere. If, and as soon as we need volunteers, we will put out a call and ask.”

Osceola County Sheriff’s Office is leading the search efforts. The case was also reported to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and an official Amber Alert was issued for missing persons.

“Full resources are being dedicated to this search,” a person involved said. “Police dogs are hot in their trail and the trail remains hot and in progress. Preliminary information so far indicates no evidence of foul play and fits a pattern of someone lost in an area where most of the buildings and surroundings look the same.”

The person said “there remains concern why they have not called anyone.”

Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call Police or Hatzalah: 305-919-4900.

The public is asked to say Tehillim for Bracha Tefillah bas Yisraelis Rivka and Rivkah bas Tzipporah. Join the Tehillim effort at http://tehilimyahad.com/mr.jsp?r=LeJWSF9E9R