CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's national emergency rescue service, will host its second Lifesaving Olympics next week in southern Israel.

Forty emergency rescue teams, comprised of 180 paramedics and EMTs (emergency medical technicians) from 12 countries will participate in the four-day competition, which begins at Kibbutz Ein Gedi and Dimona.

The teams will go through 11 stations, simulating a variety of traumas, including a night rescue and several drills in challenging terrain where physical fitness and the ability to work in difficult conditions will be tested.

MDA and IDF (Israel Defense Forces) paramedics will compete with teams from Turkey, Jordan, the US and Canada, Ireland, England, Holland, Norway, Germany, France, Poland and the Czech Republic.

In 2006, MDA held its first Lifesaving Olympics around the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and in the Western Galilee.

Source: The Jerusalem Post