Four people were killed on Thursday afternoon after a minibus crashed into a security gate on Route 443 on the way to Jerusalem.
Paramedics and MDA volunteers arrived at the location and gave medical treatment to the 14 people injured. Four of the 14 died, one is in moderate condition and nine were lightly injured.
All of those injured were men in their 40s. The man in moderate condition was evacuated to Tel Hashomer Hospital, two of the lightly injured men were evacuated to Asaf Harofeh Hospital and six other lightly injured were evacuated to Shaarei Tsedek Hospital.
An eyewitness reported that "the vehicle drove over the separation barrier. We were close to it and suddenly, we saw people and parts flying, and the car continued for another few meters in a straight line. I immediately called the police."
MDA emergency medic Daniel Dubinki, who passed by during the accident, said that "this is a shocking accident. As I passed, I noticed a van that lost control, crashed into the separation barrier and continued tens of meters close to the barrier. There were about 13 passengers in the vehicle. I called large numbers of people to the location and I began a preliminary screening of the injured. Two men in their 40s were trapped in the vehicle and two men were outside of the car, also in their 40s. The four of them were unconscious and suffered from severe systemic damage. Their condition was critical and in a short amount of time our paramedics that arrived on-site had to announce their deaths."
He added that "nine other injured were conscious, one of which had stomach and head injuries and his condition was moderate and the rest had injuries to their bodies and their conditions were defined as light."
As a result from the accident, Route 443 was blocked from the Gamzu Junction to the Adam Junction. Police are on location and directing traffic. The circumstances of the incident are under investigation.
This article was translated by Tamar Beeri.