IDF soldier critically hurt after falling out of moving car on highway
Police to investigate circumstances of 19-year-old’s fall out of taxi on Route 6; report claims he may have attempted suicide
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
A 19-year-old Israel Defense Forces soldier was critically hurt on Monday morning after falling out of a moving vehicle on a major highway.
The incident occurred on Route 6, near the Horeshim interchange at around 7:30 a.m, according to Magen David Adom. The ambulance service said that its medics took the man to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.
“The injured man was lying on the road unconscious and suffering from a severe head injury. We provided him with life-saving medical treatment that included stopping the bleeding, and artificial respiration,” a medic said.
The car the soldier fell out of was a taxi, Hebrew-language media reports said.
The Military Police and the Israel Police are jointly investigating the circumstances. According to the Kan public broadcaster, the incident is being investigated as an attempted suicide.
Suicide remained the leading cause of death for soldiers in 2020, with at least nine service members having taken their own lives, according to IDF Manpower Directorate commander Maj. Gen. Moti Almoz.
The number of suicides in 2020 represented a slight decrease from 2019, when 12 soldiers killed themselves, according to the IDF.
As a result of various prevention programs implemented throughout the years, the IDF maintains a lower suicide rate than the country in general and than many militaries around the world.
Almoz said in January that the military likely prevented four suicide attempts in 2020 by quickly locating soldiers who had gone missing from their units, something that would not have happened in years past.
Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
