A rabbi came to the rescue of Israeli mountaineers in Nepal last week thanks to an SOS message sent from a Chabad satellite phone.
Chabad rabbi Chezki Lifshitz joined a helicopter team to rescue two Israeli backpackers who were suffering from hypothermia.
Maya Butbul and Sharon Nachumi were stranded at 15,500 ft on a ridge in the Annapurna range of the Himalyas, around 100 miles from the capital, Kathmandu.
The women had sent out an SOS signal using a satellite phone borrowed from the Chabad House in Kathmandu.
"Hypothermia had set in, and every minute was precious," Rabbi Lifshitz told JTA.
The 42-year-old rabbi co-directs Chabad of Nepal with his wife, Chani, and the Israel-born couple have rescued dozens of backpackers during their 16-year stay in the country.
A local rescue squad and fellow Israeli backpackers trained in first aid cared for the women until the helicopter arrived.
Rabbi Lifshitz said the women were taken to a hospital in Kathmandu, where they are being treated.
The satellite phones used by the stranded women had been donated by the family of Israeli hiker Nadav Shohamn, who was killed in a freak blizzard in 2014.
In the aftermath of last April's earthquake, Rabbi Lifshitz travelled to badly affected areas to bring aid to locals and rescue stranded Israeli tourists.
