Magnus International Search & Rescue Ltd. provides worldwide tracing and rescue services for travelers and tourists. The Company provides travelers and their families with a comprehensive solution throughout all stages of their trip: advice on proper travel planning, counseling for travelers and/or their concerned families during the trip, tracing travelers with whom contact has been lost, rescuing them from anywhere in the world and under extreme conditions, and medical evacuation should the need arise. The company also specializes in rescuing and rehabilitating victims of drug use and cults. In most cases, our professional investigation of the incident and the counseling provided to the family and the insurance companies are sufficient to resolve most of the emergency alert without any operational intervention in the field.

The Company has positive and proven experience, which has made it one of the world’s foremost providers of these professional services.

Background
The tracing, search and rescue company was founded about 12 years ago by Hilik

Magnus.

The goal was to come to the aid of families who lost touch with their relatives who had gone abroad, or families who were notified that the traveler was in a distressful situation as a result of an accident, a natural disaster, etc.

Three steps were taken upon the unit’s inception, setting its tone:

1.   Formulating work procedures and fundamental principles.

2.   Assembling and screening the team members whose background, experience, knowledge and personal attributes served as the foundation for the unit’s services.

3.   Special equipment was acquired and training sessions were held in all rescue professions, which brought the unit to a state of operational readiness, able to operate under any extreme field conditions and in any climate.

An extensive global network of collaborators, assistants and informants was formed in order to investigate and handle exceptional incidents. An office was set up with equipment for tracing and surveillance during operations.

Methods were designed to care for and support the families during their toughest hours, due to lack of news or information from the traveling family member and due to the nature of the incident.

Over the years, the company has acquired and accumulated varied and rich experience in all matters pertaining to travelers and the potential pitfalls along their travel paths. The team has garnered impressive success in rescue operations throughout the world, and has performed a variety of complex rescues – from raging rivers, snow-covered peaks, especially challenging trek paths – and under any extreme field conditions imaginable. The team’s mission has taken it to the world’s most extreme regions such as the Himalayas, the Andes, the Yangtze, the Amazon, Tierra del Fuego, etc.

During its years of operation, the Company has handled thousands of cases – tracing missing persons, investigations, renewing contact between travelers and their families, rescue operations across the globe and relief services.

Unit Structure

Hilik Magnus, who has been heading the rescue unit since he founded it 12 years ago, recruits and trains the company’s personnel and guides the teams’ modus operandi.

Hilik is a man of many talents and has the experience of thousands of tracing missions and hundreds of rescue operations under all field conditions. Furthermore, he specializes in rescuing drug victims and offers their families support and counseling. On its 57^th Independence Day, the State of Israel chose to grant Hilik Magnus the honor of lighting a beacon in the opening ceremony of the Independence Day events on Mount Herzl as a sign of appreciation for years of tireless and boundless activity for the sake of Israeli backpackers and their families.

The twenty-two team members are among the best in the field of rescue operations in Israel and worldwide. They are all graduates of elite units and experts in the fields of intelligence and the various field professions. Five of them serve as team leaders and are capable of independently assuming tasks involving counseling, tracing and rescue missions.

The home front desk staff coordinates and manages activities, provides intelligence / operational / administrative support to the field teams throughout the missions, and maintains continual contact with the families and the insurance companies. The desk staff is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The company’s business management is handled by Muli Eyal, a former air force combat pilot with extensive corporate experience in setting up companies as well as in business management and development, with an emphasis on providing a high standard of service and fostering many and varied collaborative efforts.

Range of Services and Principles of Operation

1.   The unit deals with tracing travelers with whom contact has been lost.

2.   The unit provides continuous information services to families who have lost contact with their loved ones.

3.   Assessing the insured’s claims and determining their proper handling in order to give due consideration to the incident on the one hand, and to avoid expensive and superfluous procedures for the insurance company on the other hand.

4.   Ensuring the ongoing collection of information and establishing ties with the main places where there is extensive tourism; this involves working with collaborators, local informants, and other emergency units.

5.   Rescuing travelers from distressful situations under any field conditions and from almost anywhere in the world.

6.   Ensuring prompt and safe medical evacuation under any extreme conditions.

7.   Handling, assisting and mediating in cases of abduction or “sting operation” complications.

8.   Handling, assisting and providing support in cases where the victims join and become enslaved by cults.

9.   A special department dealing with tracing and rescuing drug victims is equipped to provide preliminary information to the family, which it assists throughout the entire rescue, healing and rehabilitation process. This activity is done in full collaboration with Kfar Izun, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department for Israelis Abroad, and the Israel Anti-Drug Authority.

When the unit is summoned to an incident, the task is assessed on the intelligence level and as much information as possible is collected regarding the location of the incident and regarding those involved. This information will help the unit to manage the incident and will assist the rescuers during the operation.

A team that is on continuous alert is sent out for the operation according to the special conditions in the field –flowing water, deep water, snow, ice, jungle, etc. The team arms itself with the appropriate equipment and travels to the site of the incident.

When notice of the incident is received, the behind-the-scenes desk in charge of handling the incident goes into action by maintaining intensive contact with the family, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, local authorities, the insurance company, funding sources and the media; by renting unique, peripheral equipment; by contacting traffic and aviation authorities; and by collecting ongoing information and updates.

During the entire duration of the operation, the team gets support from the desk and together, they complete the task.

When there are several concurrent incidents, additional teams are activated and each one of them operates independently, headed by their team leader and with the desk’s management and supervision.

Human capital – the ability to operate successfully under any extreme conditions

The Company’s main asset is its human capital. Its twenty-two team members are among the best in the field of rescue operations in Israel and worldwide. They are all graduates of elite units and experts in the area of intelligence and the various field professions. The team members have over 12 years of cumulative experience in working as a team, during which they operated in the most remote and extreme areas (the Yangtze, Kali Kandaki, El Pamayo, Huilo-Huilo, the Himalayas, Tuichi, Sri Lanka, etc.) with proven success. They work as a team with exceptional professionalism, in full harmony and in genuine friendship. These characteristics of the unit’s members, along with the deep humanity in each and every one of them, enable them to undertake the most complex missions with resolve, professionalism and sensitivity.

The majority of the rescue operations are performed under the most difficult of field conditions. The team members have professional know how and experience with every type of problem that may surface during rescue operations. The teams consist of experts with proven experience under extreme conditions worldwide: an expert in ice and snow operations, an expert in jungle operations, an expert in vertical rescue and cliff climbing, an expert in flowing water, an expert in deep water activity, a helicopter pilot, a psychologist, a doctor, emergency medicine specialists, experts in the engineering field, as well as computer and cartography experts.

These capabilities make it possible to attain a professional level of rescue operations under any extreme field conditions: ice, jungle, flowing water, deep water, sea, cliffs and desert.

Proven experience worldwide

The Company’s proven experience in the tracing and rescue of hundreds of travelers worldwide is unique to the teams of Magnus International Tracing & Rescue Ltd. and exceptional in its scope. We are proud of the fact that in the vast majority of cases, our thorough counseling and tracing work have averted the need for expensive rescue operations and have saved superfluous expenses for worried families.

To date, the teams headed by Hilik Magnus have handled many thousands of cases on the counseling level, over 90% of which were resolved at the counseling phase. In about 700 cases, tracing activities were carried out without any rescue operations, and only about 150 cases resulted in  real rescue operations in the field. With the exception of 9 cases, in all of the rescue operations in the field, the subjects were extricated alive.

During the tsunami incident, four teams worked concurrently in Kopipi, Phuket, South India and Sri Lanka. As a result of the skill and experience of the unit’s personnel, our teams were the first to arrive in the disaster areas and the only ones active at the crucial points. For example, on the Island of Kopipi, a Magnus team headed a large mission in which a great many Thai people took part. In Sri Lanka, a Magnus International Tracing & Rescue Ltd. team rescued all of the Israelis in the disaster areas and evacuated them to Israel on a flight donated by El Al, with the collaboration of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs .At the same time, a family from southern Sri Lanka was rescued while managing the evacuation of the Israelis to Colombo, a traveler from South India was rescued, and a special team was sent to trace a young Israeli woman who had disappeared with the first wave. The team found her body following superhuman digging and combing efforts on the disaster-struck Island of Kopipi.

Avoiding unnecessary action and operating within a minimal time frame and budget

The large volume of accumulated knowledge and experience makes it possible to solve most cases at the counseling and tracing stage, without going out on rescue missions. A very large volume of cases over the years, coupled with intensive activity, have perfected the ability of the unit’s backup team to offer services to families, travelers and insurance companies. This vast experience makes it possible to examine and analyze each incident in order to ascertain, while there is still time, whether the incident can be handled and resolved by the home front desk or whether a rescue operation is required. Thus, incidents are frequently resolved from the vantage point of a desk, thereby saving on many rescue operations.

The rescue operations themselves are conducted economically and on restricted budgets. The teams fly tourist class and adhere to a modest budget during the rescue operations. Their professionalism and vast experience make it possible to apply discretion in selecting the most suitable means to carry out the assignments successfully and within a short period of time. Throughout every incident, the company acts in continuous consultation with the families and the insurance companies.