Car careens into customers outside Bat Yam cafe, injuring 15

A car lost control and crashed into customers at a restaurant in Bat Yam on Thursday, injuring 15.

The driver drove onto the sidewalk, colliding with customers at the Aroma cafe. Security footage suggested that the driver attempted to exit the driveway of a parking lot, then accelerated quickly and crashed. Channel 12 reported he is a man in his 70s who hit the gas pedal by mistake.

The city’s Wolfson Medical Center said that 15 individuals with varying conditions were receiving treatment.

Among them is a 60-year-old woman in critical condition with multisystem injuries, and the driver of the vehicle, a 78-year-old man who was in moderate condition after sustaining a chest injury.

רכב התנגש באזור ישיבה של מסעדה בבת ים. מספר נפגעים במקום, בהם אישה מחוסרת הכרה
(צילום: מתוך הרשתות החברתיות, שימוש לפי סעיף 27א')@netzer_ben pic.twitter.com/2iZh6GTmIC

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) April 22, 2021

“We were sitting at a table in Aroma, the car came quickly and drove at like 200 kilometers an hour, hit the table, and knocked us down,” Yitzhak Yom-Tov, an 87-year-old who was injured in the crash and taken to the hospital, said.

“I have bruises and scratches on my legs, back, and arms. At my age, I hope I feel better,” he told Channel 12.

Wolfson Medical Center said 3 wounded individuals were being treated in the hospital’s trauma center — one in critical condition, and two in moderate condition.

כלי רכב פגע ביושבי בית קפה ברחוב רוטשילד בבת ים.במקום תשעה פצועים, אחת קשה ו8 קל. האזור עמוס לבאים מכל הכיוונים.
צילום:מד״א. @GLZRadio pic.twitter.com/vo8AtGkBLn

— בני כבודי (@benikvodi) April 22, 2021

Police opened an investigation into the incident and the street was blocked off from traffic.

On Tuesday, five people were killed in traffic accidents in the space of 24 hours. Since the beginning of the year 96 people have been killed on the country’s roads, according to the Road Safety Authority.