IDF officer dies in car crash in southern Israel
Bus driver moderately injured; deadly accident comes just days after two soldiers killed when their army truck overturned near Eilat
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
An IDF officer was killed in a car accident with a bus in southern Israel, the army said, making him the third serviceman to die in a crash in under a week.
The bus driver was moderately wounded and a passenger was lightly injured, according to medical officials.
The officer’s car collided with the bus, flipping his vehicle, near the entrance to Eshkol in southern Israel. Medics said the officer, 23, was in serious condition when they arrived on the scene, with no pulse and not breathing.
He was pulled out of the totaled car and pronounced dead on the scene, after attempts to revive him failed, according to medics from the Magen David Adom ambulance service.
He was later identified by the IDF as Cpt. Binyamin Rosenbloim from Arad, who served in the the army’s desert reconnaissance unit. He was posthumously promoted from lieutenant.
The driver of the bus and one of the passengers received treatment on the scene before they were taken to Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center for treatment.
The army initially barred publication of the fact that an IDF officer was killed in the crash, until his family had been notified.
On Monday evening, the army announced it was opening two investigations into the crash, one by the Southern Command and the other by the Military Police.
Monday’s crash comes four days after two soldiers were killed when their truck flipped over north of Eilat.
They were later identified as Master Sgt. Ya’akov Twati, 35, from Dimona and Pvt. Habtamu Abebe, 19, from Kiryat Gat.
Following the incident, the head of the IDF’s Logistics Directorate, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, announced that the crash would be investigated by a team headed by Col. Nitzan Mimrod, the head of the IDF’s logistics school.
The IDF Military Police will also conduct its own investigation of the truck crash.
The accident occurred outside the 80th Division’s base, approximately five kilometers (three miles) north of the city of Eilat, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.
Last month, a soldier was killed and three others were wounded when a jeep they were traveling in overturned near the southern Gaza Strip border.
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