Driver held on suspicion of killing family of 8 while under influence

The driver of a car involved in a fatal head-on collision near the Dead Sea, in which eight members of one family were killed, was kept in custody on Wednesday by a Beersheba court on suspicion of manslaughter for causing the accident while under the influence of drugs.

The 52-year-old man was ordered held for six more days, as it came to light that he had a record of more than 20 traffic offenses. The judge acceded to the request of the defendant’s lawyer that he not be publicly identified.

“The suspicion of manslaughter is based, among other things, on findings that raise suspicions that the suspect used drugs,” Judge Zvi Furer wrote in his decision, adding that the suspect was cooperating with investigators, the Ynet news site reported.

The judge added, “We do not often encounter such fatal accidents. I would not wish for anyone to be in this man’s position.”

Lawyers for the defendant said their client was devastated by what had happened and noted that he is disabled.

The victims of Tuesday’s crash were named as Yariv Atar, 45, and his wife Shoshi, 47, and their children Yaakov Yisrael, 12, Ateret, 11, Ayelet, 9, Moriah, 7, Yedid, 5, and Avigail, 3.

The family lived in the West Bank settlement of Psagot.

The arrested man was driving the second vehicle in the collision, an SUV. Two other people in his car suffered moderate and light injuries and were taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.

“The driver is bruised, injured, and confused. He was questioned while his daughter was anesthetized and breathing through a ventilator. At this stage it isn’t clear who is to blame for the accident. He does not remember exactly what happened and we hope the police will investigate quickly,” his lawyers were quoted as saying by Channel 10 news.

Immediately following the crash, the driver reportedly said, “I killed them, I’m not driving anymore.”

Police did not explicitly state what caused the crash, which earlier was met with calls to bolster safety measures on the stretch of Route 90 where it occurred, which has seen other deadly crashes in the past.

Investigators believe the driver of the SUV may have strayed into the opposite lane, according to Hebrew media reports.

“This road has been an ongoing danger for many years and even if human or technical factors influenced the strength of the accident, in the end we must see how to prevent it,” Zionist Union MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin said.

She called for a divider to be installed separating traffic on Route 90, one of the deadliest highways in the country, and urged Transportation Minister Israel Katz to advance a plan for installing such a barrier.

The Transportation Ministry hit back, saying that the accident was being exploited for political ends.

“There are sources trying to take advantage of this terrible disaster in order to spread political libel and accuse the government of baseless allegations,” Hebrew media reports quoted it saying.

Earlier this month, two parents and their 10-month-old baby were killed in a head-on collision with a bus on the same highway in the same area.

The Transportation Ministry told Hebrew media that Tuesday’s crash was the deadliest to ever take place on the stretch of road.

A representative for the company maintaining the road told the Ynet news site that work was recently done to expand the shoulders and repaint lines.

The accident came as hundreds of thousands of Israelis were enjoying a day off for local elections taking place across the country.

The minivan carrying the Atar family ignited following the accident and some of the dead were killed in the blaze, according to rescuers. By the time firefighters managed to extinguish the flaming car, the trapped passengers had died.