4 dead in car accidents on first day of Chol Hamoed

Fatalities occur in separate accidents in Negev and the north of the country; two buses collide in Tel Aviv.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
car accident370 (photo credit: Courtesy ZAKA)
car accident370
(photo credit: Courtesy ZAKA)
Four people died on the roads Wednesday as Israel marked the first day of Passover's Chol Hamoed.
In response to the tragic events on the country's roads since the Passover holiday began, the Magen David Adom rescue service will place its personnel on high alert throughout the country, in order to provide a quick and profession response to the multitude of incidents, MDA chief Eli Bin said Wednesday.
One woman in her thirties was killed in a car accident on Highway 40 near the Negev Junction on Wednesday. Eight additional people were injured in the accident which resulted in two overturned cars, six of them are children.
Magen David Adom paramedics evacuated a 35-year-old woman and a 6-year-old boy, both severely injured, by helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
The remaining six injured were also evacuated to Soroka hospital: an 8-year-old and a 3-year-old that were severely injured, an 8-year-old that was moderately injured and three lightly injured (a father in his 40's, a 12-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy).
In a separate accident in the north of the country near Nazareth, a man was killed in a collision between a truck and a car. A woman was moderately injured in the accident and taken to hospital in Nazareth by MDA.
Also on Highway 40 near the villages of Shalva and Noam a woman in her fifties was killed when her car collided with a truck. MDA pulled the trapped woman from her car but had to pronounce her death at the scene. Two more women were injured lightly in the accident.
Early in the morning on Wednesday in the town of Daliat al-Carmel a 17-year- old was killed and three of his friends were injured lightly when the car they were traveling in hit an electric utility pole. After the seriously injured victim received first aid at the scene he was evacuated to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
In Tel Aviv, two buses were involved in an accident on Namir Road near Einstein street. MDA paramedics treated 20 passengers at the scene and evacuated 17 individuals to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Many of the Israeli highways on Wednesday came to a standstill as traffic jams caused by the many families out for the holiday paralyzed the country.
Section of the coastal highway were backed up due to accidents from the Rabin Interchange through to Shefayim, and from the Shalom bridge in Netanya through the Havatzelet Interchange.
Further north, the east to west highway 77  was jammed between the Beit Rimon Junction and the Golani Junction. Heavy traffic was felt on the north-south road from Golani Junction to Ailabon Junction and on route 65 from Mei Ami Junction until Um el Fahm Junction.
In the south, route 1 that connects Tel Aviv and Jerusalem was jammed near Beersheba.
Zaki Heller, Spokesman for Magen David Adom rescue services, said in a press release on Wednesday that "Pessach 2013 has been an especially deadly holiday", and said that the organization had gone on a higher state of readiness than usual over the holiday to deal with the dangerous situation on the country's roads.