Israeli consul says tourists injured in deadly crash in India are conscious
Eli Sneh to help fly 4 Israelis back home, along with body of Adva Ben Dahan, 36, who went on trip after she was fired from Teva
Michael Bachner is a news editor at The Times of Israel
The Israeli consul in Delhi has met four Israelis injured in a road accident in a remote mountainside in India, and will help return them home along with the body of 36-year-old Adva Ben Dahan, who was killed in the crash.
The Foreign Ministry said Monday that the vehicle in which the tourists were traveling swerved off a mountain road and plunged into a valley between Manali and Leh at the Spiti Valley, in the Himalayan mountains in northern India. Roads in the area are steep with sections of gravel and loose soil. They are crisscrossed by streams.
The consul, Eli Sneh, said the accident happened after the vehicle hit a bus and veered off the road, plunging more than 150 meters on a slope.
On Tuesday, the ministry said Sneh arrived in the city of Kullu, some 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of India’s capital, Delhi, and visited the Israelis hospitalized there, one of whom is in serious condition.
“They are conscious, they are talking,” the consul said of the injured in an interview with 103FM radio. “We are making huge efforts to bring them to a better hospital in the area of Delhi, and from there to fly them to Israel as fast as possible.”
Sneh is also helping facilitate the transfer of Ben Dahan’s body back to Israel to be buried.
Ben Dahan, who lived in the central Israeli city of Givatayim, had worked at the human resources department in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Israel’s largest medicine manufacturer, Hebrew-language media reported. She decided to travel to India after recently being fired from the company.
On May 16 she posted a photo from Ben Gurion Airport with her passport and boarding pass, writing: “Flying to realize another dream.”
“Adva went traveling alone three weeks ago,” her brother Avi was quoted as saying by the Ynet news site. “She liked having fun, liked people. She was a tour guide and went on many hikes. She mainly liked the ocean. She meant to travel again in a month but that won’t happen. It is a complete shock.”
India and neighboring Nepal are popular destinations for Israelis, particularly those who have just completed their compulsory military service.
In October last year, a jeep accident in Nepal claimed the life of Vered Aviyashar, 26, and injured eight more Israelis when their vehicle overturned while traveling in the Annapurna mountain range in central Nepal.
Three years ago, three Israelis were among around 45 people, half of them Nepalese, who died in a sudden blizzard in the Annapurna mountain range.
Sue Surkes contributed to this report.
