4 dead in head-on collision outside of Haifa

Four people died in a head-on collision between two cars on a highway outside of Haifa on Saturday night.

The two vehicles crashed into one another along Highway 772 between Kiryat Ata and Rechasim, on the outskirts of the northern port city of Haifa.

Police are investigating whether one of the vehicles was traveling against traffic on the wrong side of the road prior to the crash, the Ynet news site reported.

One of the four victims was a man from the Druze city of Daliyat al-Karmel, who was traveling alone in one of the vehicles.

The other three were a 72-year-old woman and her 60-year-old husband from Kfar Bialik in northern Israel, along with a younger, unidentified woman who cared for the two of them.

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A young man traveling in a third car was lightly injured as he crashed after swerving to avoid the accident.

Rescue workers from the Magen David Adom ambulance service struggled to treat the victims as they were unable to open the cars’ doors, paramedic Chen Landi said.

“From the force of the crash the injured people were trapped in the vehicles, so we provided life-saving medical treatment alongside the rescue efforts,” she said.

“A man in serious condition with a stomach wound was rescued from the first vehicle. He was taken in an intensive care ambulance to the hospital,” Landi said.

“From the driver’s seat of the second vehicle, a woman in very serious condition with a multiple system injuries was rescued. She was unconscious and ventilated when she was taken to [Haifa’s] Rambam Medical Center, along with the man in the passenger’s seat. He had no pulse and wasn’t breathing,” Landi said.

The caretaker was pulled from the backseat of the vehicle. She was in serious condition and was also unconscious and ventilated when she was brought to Rambam hospital, MDA said.

The husband and wife were pronounced dead on Saturday night, while the other two died early Sunday morning.