Israeli tourist killed, four injured in Panama bus crash

ZAKA, Foreign Ministry working with authorities in Panama to repatriate body to Israel for burial

By ToI Staff 13 May 2026, 9:00 pm

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Footage from a video showing the fatal crash between a minibus carrying Israeli passengers and a bus in Panama, on May 13, 2026. (Screenshot: X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

An Israeli woman was killed and four other Israelis were injured in a bus crash in Panama on Wednesday.

The accident occurred at around 5:30 a.m. local time, when the minibus the Israelis were traveling in crashed into a parked bus on a highway outside the Panamanian city of La Chorrera, according to Hebrew and Spanish media reports.

The four injured Israelis were transferred to a local hospital, where two of them are reportedly listed in serious condition and the other two in moderate condition.

Upon receiving a report of the accident, the international division of Israel’s ZAKA search and rescue organization contacted ZAKA Panama, which dispatched teams to the scene of the crash and to the hospital, Hebrew media reported.

The organization is also working with the Foreign Ministry to repatriate the body of the crash victim, whose name has not yet been publicized, to Israel for burial.

According to local media outlet Critica, the crash was the second deadly incident on the Arraiján-La Chorrera highway this week, after a man was killed while trying to walk across it on Tuesday.