An Israeli woman was killed, and several other Israelis were injured on Wednesday in a serious traffic accident involving a tourist minibus and a bus in La Chorrera, Panama.
According to an Israeli source, four Israelis were injured in the crash, three of them seriously.
Local Panamanian media reported that the tourist minibus struck the rear of a bus traveling toward Panama City that had stopped on the side of the road to pick up passengers.
ZAKA said its emergency hotline received a report on Wednesday about the crash, in which an Israeli citizen was killed at the scene, and several other Israeli citizens were evacuated in moderate-to-serious condition to a local hospital.
The organization’s International Unit contacted its local team in Panama to assist at the scene and at the hospital, and to support the victims and their families, ZAKA said.
Efforts underway to return victims of Panama crash to Israel
Baruch Nidaam, head of ZAKA’s International Unit, said the organization was working with the Foreign Ministry to return the body of the Israeli woman to Israel as soon as possible for burial, and to arrange for the wounded to be flown to Israel for medical treatment.
“Immediately after receiving the report, we began working together with the Foreign Ministry to bring the deceased woman to Israel as soon as possible for burial and a funeral, and to fly the wounded to Israel for treatment,” Nidaam said. “The International Unit teams are in contact with local authorities, who are working as quickly as possible to release the victims to Israel.”
ZAKA said it “shares in the family’s heavy grief” and wished the injured a speedy recovery.