4 dead in north after car crashes into water pipe

Traffic police: Driver was speeding at "insane" rate; mother, father and son among fatalities.

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
crash 224.88 (photo credit: ZAKA [file])
crash 224.88
(photo credit: ZAKA [file])
A chain of deadly crashes left six dead in northern Israel over the weekend. Four members of the same Netanya family were killed Friday night in a single-vehicle collision; police believe that speed was a key factor. The cabinet is slated to discuss how to combat traffic accidents today. Alexander Stefanov, 23, the vehicle's driver, apparently lost control of the vehicle in which his aunt and uncle, Vladimir and Lubov Kavnov, both 47, and their son, Andrei, 22, were traveling back from a party. Just after Yokneam on Route 70, the vehicle struck the right-hand curb, went airborne, crossing a three-meter-wide ditch, and then slammed into a water pipe. Route 70 is a well-lit road with three lanes in each direction, which greatly reduces the probability that the "infrastructure factor" was involved and increases the probability that human error was at work. Northern Region Traffic Department head Dep.-Cmdr. Nabil Esawi, who arrived at the scene shortly afterwards, said that the driver was driving at "an insane speed" before crashing. Police are investigating whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol, and confirmed that none of the victims were wearing seatbelts. In another accident, a car slammed in to an oncoming truck Saturday evening, and the car's driver later died of his injuries. According to the initial police investigation, the car's driver swerved out of his northbound lane on a curvy two-lane road and slammed into an oncoming truck, just north of Kfar Tavor in the Lower Galilee on Route 65. Rescue teams worked to free the car's driver from the tangled wreckage, but he died shortly after arriving at Afula's Haemek Medical Center. Police said that they believe that the victim, a northern resident, was on his way home when the crash occurred, and are investigating whether technical problems or human error were at fault. In the early morning hours of Friday, one woman was killed and another two people were seriously injured in a single-vehicle collision near Carmiel when the car in which they were riding spun out of control on a tight curve and overturned. The vehicle came to rest dozens of meters from the road, after spinning into an olive tree. All three of the victims, who were in their thirties, were ejected from the vehicle by the force of the collision.