Three teens killed, two people seriously wounded, in deadly crash in northern Israel
Two declared dead at the scene of late-night collision between vehicles; third victim dies of wounds after being airlifted by IDF to a hospital
Three teens were killed early Friday when the vehicle they were traveling in collided with another car in northern Israel, police and medics said.
Hebrew media said all three were residents of Kibbutz Kfar Blum, aged 16 and 17, identifying them as Uri Maloul, Ariel Stern, and Daniel Porat.
Magen David Adom medics declared two of the victims dead at the scene after firefighters managed to free them from the wreckage, while a third teen died later of his wounds after being airlifted to a hospital by an Israel Defense Force helicopter in critical condition.
Teams from the IDF and the Fire and Rescue Authority assisted the medics.
A man, 35, and a woman, 43, who were in the other vehicle, were seriously injured and taken to the Ziv hospital in Safed.
“It was a shocking accident; we saw two vehicles, one of them in which the three youths were traveling, was completely crushed,” said MDA medic Eli Ben Zaken.
The crash occurred shortly after 1 a.m.
Police said they were investigating the cause of the crash on Route 9779 between Kiryat Shmona and Moshav Beit Hillel, adding that a preliminary probe indicated that the car with the three teens had made a U-turn without seeing the other oncoming vehicle.
Tributes from family and friends of the young victims poured in on Friday following the tragedy.
Romy Maloul, Uri’s sister, said the three were only five minutes from home when they crashed on the “dangerous road.”
“We haven’t digested it yet, in just another moment he would have arrived home. It’s awful, incomprehensible, and difficult. He was an amazing and insanely talented brother. Everyone will say he was a dominant, talented, and hard-working boy,” she told Channel 12.
Daniella Porat-Penso, Daniel’s aunt, said the boy was “loved very much by all of us, and very similar to his father.”
“It’s hard to describe the sorrow,” she told the Ynet news site.
Amiram, who worked with the victims at Si cafe, also mourned the loss of his colleagues. “They began here washing dishes and vegetables, they didn’t know anything in the kitchen, and learned everything from nothing.”
The Upper Galilee Regional Council said in a statement that council officials stand with the families following the “major catastrophe.”
