4 killed, 4 seriously injured in car crash
Car and minibus collide in north of country; ambulances and helicopters rush wounded to the hospital
Four people were killed Monday and another four injured in a traffic accident in the north of the country, bringing the death toll for January to 24.
A private car and a minibus collided near the Hananya junction on Route 866 near the city of Karmiel. Witnesses said the car appeared to swerve into the path of the minibus, but the reason was not immediately clear.
Three of the fatalities, two men and a woman, reportedly in their twenties, were occupants of the car and declared dead at the scene. Five people were seriously injured and two were left with moderate injuries. One of those injured later died in hospital.
A large number of Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene and three IDF helicopters were involved in taking injured people to hospitals for treatment.
According to the Hebrew-language Ynet website, two women in their 30s who had multiple injuries were taken by helicopter to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. A girl, 15, also seriously injured with multiple injuries, was choppered to Ziv Medical Center in Safed.
Three other woman and a man were also taken to Ziv.
Route 866 was closed in both directions as a result of the accident.
The crash came the day after the Central Bureau of Statistics released a report showing there was a rise of 6% in the number of traffic fatalities in 2016 compared to 2015.
Last year 378 people were killed on the roads in Israel compared to 356 the year before. Another 1,909 people were seriously injured, compared to 1,896 the year before.