13 Israeli tourists injured, some seriously, in bus crash in Laos
Israel working 'around the clock' to bring them to Thailand for treatment; five reportedly sustained moderate to serious wounds when driver apparently fell asleep behind the wheel
Thirteen Israeli tourists were injured in a bus crash in Laos overnight, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday, adding that it was working “around the clock” to transfer the wounded Israelis to Thailand for treatment.
The Israeli embassy in Vietnam, which oversees relations with neighboring Laos, has been working “around the clock” to transfer the wounded Israelis to Thailand for treatment, the ministry said. The private search-and-rescue firm Magnus, along with insurers PassportCard and Migdal, also sent crews to the scene.
According to Hebrew and local media reports, the crash happened early Sunday local time, when the bus veered off the road and crashed into a tree after the driver apparently fell asleep.
Thai news outlet The Nation reported that the overnight “sleeper” bus was carrying some 40 people along the roughly 12-hour route between Laos’s southern metropolis Pakse, near the Mekong River, and the capital Vientiane — Laos’s most populous city, which abuts the border with Thailand to the west.
Ynet reported that five locals were killed. Five of the Israeli tourists sustained moderate to serious injuries, the news outlet said, adding that locals and about 10 Europeans were also among the wounded.
The Walla news site said one of the Israelis on board, 22-year-old Nadav Czerninski of Jerusalem, helped save the wounded passengers.
Czerninski told Walla that the crash occurred when “it was dark, night-time [and] most of the passengers were sleeping.”
“It’s still unclear what happened,” he said. “I woke up and found myself thrown on the ground under the old bus, which fell into a ditch with its roof broken.”
Czerninski, who sustained light injuries and a possible concussion, said that when he crawled out from under the bus he saw that the rest of the Israelis were trapped.
“There was a lot of chaos,” he said. “The locals didn’t really know what to do, other drivers who stopped gathered around and just stood and watched.”
“I started yelling for people and that’s how I found them,” said Czerninski. Together with a passenger who knew how to apply a tourniquet, he said, Czerninski rushed to the aid of the wounded.
“As far as I know, the driver was killed,” Czerninski said.
According to Czerninski, the thirteen Israelis on board comprised three couples and his group of seven friends.