אילוסטרציה
אילוסטרציהקובי פינקלר

Police helicopters and search-and-rescue teams have been dispatched to the Kinneret Friday, after a 40 year-old man disappeared while fishing on an inflatable raft. 

The man apparently has been fishing as little as 400 meters (0.2 miles) from the shore, but strong eastern winds Friday morning may have blown the raft out to sea. 

Witnesses called the police, who began a search and found the boat itself, three kilometers (1.86 miles) from the beach.  The police will continue searching for the man, who has remained unnamed thus far, until nightfall. 

The case bears striking similarities to the disappearance of Israeli hiker Shai Noam last week, who went missing in the Dead Sea area just as Israel began to battle a snow and rain storm. 

Noam's body was found in the northern Dead Sea area Tuesday.