A massive 10-day search for missing Chabad bochur Kasriel Nachman Keinan ended in tragedy Thursday when his body was discovered in the Swiss Forest near Tiveriah. Keinan, a 24-year-old resident of Beit Shemesh, had disappeared while traveling in northern Israel.

Keinan had set out with plans to travel to Tzfas but never reached his destination. He was last known to have been in the Kinneret region and was carrying a black backpack and a brown tefillin bag when he disappeared.

His disappearance triggered an intensive search operation involving members of his family, Israel Police, ZAKA volunteers and numerous search teams that traveled from across the country to assist in locating him.

Keinan’s brother Daniel said investigators had made significant progress during the final day of the search after examining security camera footage that captured Keinan entering and subsequently leaving the kever of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness in Tiveriah.

Police and relatives then worked to trace Keinan’s movements after he departed the site, even as search teams continued investigating additional possibilities regarding his whereabouts.

According to Daniel, Keinan spoke with him on Sunday evening and said that he was traveling to Tzfas. When he failed to arrive there, cellphone location information subsequently showed that he had reached Tiveriah.

On Monday, Keinan sent his mother a message informing her that his cellphone battery was nearly depleted and asking her not to worry. His family was unable to make contact with him afterward.

In the days that followed, police officers, relatives and volunteers carried out extensive searches throughout Tiveriah and Beit Shemesh. Teams examined surveillance footage while combing open spaces, abandoned structures and other locations where Keinan might have gone.

The search operation grew to include drones, specially trained search dogs, missing-person units and volunteers who arrived from communities throughout Israel to assist in the effort.

ZAKA said its emergency hotline received a report at approximately 1:40 p.m. Thursday that a body had been discovered in an open section of the Swiss Forest in Tiveriah.

Volunteers from ZAKA’s Northern District were immediately dispatched to the location.

“Following identification procedures, it was determined that this was the 24-year-old missing person who was last seen in the Tiberias area and for whom searches had been conducted for more than a week,” ZAKA said.

The identification brought the intensive nationwide search to a heartbreaking conclusion after more than a week of efforts by Keinan’s family, law enforcement authorities, emergency organizations and scores of volunteers who had joined together in hopes of bringing him home safely.