A 40-year-old man was killed and a 30-year-old man was seriously injured after a truck collided with a police car and a private vehicle that were standing on the side of the road on Route 50, near the Ben Zion interchange north of Jerusalem at around 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, according to police reports.
Three other people were injured in the accident: a 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were moderately injured and the 29-year-old truck driver was slightly injured. Magen David Adom teams evacuated the wounded to Shaare Zedek and Hadassah hospitals in Jerusalem.
MDA medic David Yerushalmi and paramedic Shmuel David, who treated the injured, reported from the scene: "When we arrived at the scene, we saw a crushed vehicle with four passengers in it, three men were lying outside the vehicle, and a 30-year-old man was trapped inside the vehicle in the back seat."
"He was unconscious and suffered extensive injuries. We gave him life-saving medical treatment while extricating him from the vehicle, and after he was rescued by firefighters, we evacuated him to the hospital in serious condition," they said.
"Outside the car was an unconscious man on the ground, with very severe multi-system trauma. He was not breathing and had no pulse. After resuscitation attempts, we had to determine his death," the medics said. "A boy about 17 years old and a young man about 19 years old were fully conscious and suffering from bruises. The truck driver, about 29 years old, was walking around with light injuries. After initial treatment, we evacuated them to the hospital."
Bus swerves into pedestrians
The aftermath of a deadly bus crash in Jerusalem on August 10, 2022 (MAGEN DAVID ADOM)
Earlier, an Egged Bus swerved into pedestrians and crashed into a construction site at Jerusalem's Yirmiyahu Street on Tuesday night.
The driver lost control of the vehicle and swerved into two pedestrians, including a 70-year-old Israeli man who died of his injuries, MDA said. The other pedestrian is in light condition.
Israel Weingarten, a senior MDA paramedic who arrived to treat the injured at the scene, said: "We saw an empty bus with passengers crushed in its front part after it collided with the entrance to a building at a construction site. A 70-year-old pedestrian who was walking on the sidewalk was hit by the bus, he was lying on the sidewalk unconscious, with multisystem injuries. We gave him medical treatment and performed resuscitation operations, at the end of which we had to determine his death."
The bus driver, in his 40s, was trapped inside the vehicle in serious condition and unconscious before he was pulled out by MDA paramedics. He was rushed to a nearby medical center for further treatment, Israel Police said.
After ramming into the pedestrians, the bus hit a number of vehicles before coming to a stop at a nearby construction site.
A United Hatzalah first responder who quickly arrived at the scene of the fatal accident said paramedic teams at the scene treated the drivers of the damaged vehicles, all considered to be in light condition.
Police said they have begun an investigation into the incident.
Egged said in response to the accident: "This is a very serious and unfortunate accident, the initial circumstances of which are being examined very professionally by the accident examiners of the Israel Police. We do not intend to disrupt or interfere with their professional and dedicated work. I am sure that the video, as well as other findings, will be carefully examined by them in order to clearly determine the reasons that caused the fatal accident."
These accidents bring the tally of accident fatalities in the last 24 hours involving a heavy vehicle to three: Yesterday, at around 3 p.m., a 30-years-old electric bicycle rider was killed by a truck in Rishon Lezion. The truck driver, a 40-year-old resident of Lod, was detained for questioning.
Since the beginning of the year, 60 people have been killed in accidents involving heavy vehicles. A total of 211 people were killed in road accidents this year, 11 less than the corresponding period last year.