Police suspect driver took drugs before deadly car crash

Atar family of eight laid to rest in Netanya

By TAMARA ZIEVE
Updated: NOVEMBER 1, 2018 03:38
Six children among eight killed in head-on accident near Dead Sea, October 30, 2018 (Negev Fire and Rescue Services)
Police suspect that a driver who was involved in a deadly car crash that killed an entire family near the Dead Sea on Wednesday was under the influence of marijuana.
The eight members of the Atar family, from Psagot, were killed following a head-on collision on Route 90 near Ein Bokek, when they were trapped inside their burning car.
A funeral was held for the family at the Shikun Vatikim Cemetery in Netanya on Wednesday, when parents Yariv, 45, and Shoshi, 47, were buried alongside their six children: Yaakov, 12, Ateret, 11, Ayala, nine, Moria, seven, Yedid, five, and Avigail, three.
The suspect appeared before the Beersheba District Court on Wednesday, and his remand was extended by 6 days.
Police arrested the driver on manslaughter charges on Tuesday, after he received treatment at Beersheba’s Soroka-University Medical Center.
He was quoted as saying: “I killed them; I will never drive again.” His wife and daughter, who were in the car with him at the time of the accident, were moderately injured and were treated at Soroka.
At court on Wednesday, the judge said that the accident was “heartbreaking and terrible.
“I do not wish anyone to be in the situation that this man is in,” he added.
Aviad Hayat, the suspect’s lawyer, said: “My client talks about and conveys messages of sorrow, agony, pain and real grief. In my role, I have never met a more tormented person. This was a difficult incident, with a sad outcome. This is a man who gave a full account, cooperated; he is a normative man. And I am currently asking to stop this, to allow the police to carry out its work and to investigate.”
The accident came two weeks after a couple and their baby were killed in an accident with a bus in the same area of the Dead Sea.


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