Fatal bus crash in south claims 25 lives

VIDEO - At least 25 people were killed and 33 were injured Tuesday afternoon as a private bus carrying travel agents from St. Petersburg, Russia, and headed to Eilat from the Ovda Airfield in southern Israel, plunged into a dry river bed about 1.8 miles north of the resort town. At around 3 pm, Magen David Adom emergency services and the police received a report of a bus which had derailed off Highway 12, north of Eilat, in an area housing multiple Israel Defense Forces bases. The bus is believed to have originally been headed north, but it was forced to turn back due to IDF maneuvers in the area. Emergency search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the scene of the accident, which was promptly declared a mass casualty event. Upon arriving, the team found the bus had plummeted down a 45-feet chasm, apparently flipping over several times, as it was found to be completely crushed. Thirty ambulances and several civilian and military medevac helicopters were dispatched to the area to assist in the rescue and evacuation efforts. IDF forces were also called to the scene to assist in the rescue efforts, Emergency personnel pronounced five people dead at the scene, and began rushing the injured to the Yoseftal Medical Center in Eilat and the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. As the gravity of the situation unfolded, the MDA sent paramedics to Eilat via plane to reinforce the local station. The Health Ministry called on medical personnel in Eilat to rush to the Yoseftal Medical Center in order to assist with the triage efforts of the victims as did the Leumit Health Fund, which ordered 40 doctors and nursed attending a conference in the city to report to the hospital. The Soroka Medical Center shuttled several medical teams to Eilat, and the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer had 100 units of blood flown in for the local blood bank. "The majority of the injured will eventually be transported to Soroka, since we are not equipped to deal with an event of such proportions," said hospital spokeswoman Naomi Yitzhak-Halevy. Emergency forces dispatched to area 'Bodies scattered everywhere' Michel Elkaslasy, the owner of the company which rented out the bus to the tourist's travel agency, who rushed to the scene as soon as news of the crash broke, told Ynet that "the tourists arrived from Russia. The sight was horrible. The bus is upside-down at the end of nowhere... The bus apparently lost control. I see bodies scattered everywhere." A., an eyewitness, told Ynet, "I was riding my bicycle from Eilat to Ovda. On my way back south, I saw two buses pass by. When I arrived at the turn I saw a lot of smoke. The second bus driver, who stopped, said the other bus skirted him and plunged down immediately. The Immigration Absorption Ministry reported that the passengers were all tourist agents on an organized tour to Israel, adding that the Russian consul had been briefed and was making his way to the resort city. The police, Magen David Adom and the Tourism Ministry have set up situation rooms and hotlines following the crash: The police situation room: 972-2-6664358 MDA hotline: 1-700-500-430 Tourism Ministry hotline: 972-2-6664358 Ilana Curiel, Yael Branovsky, Meital Yasur Beit-Or, Yael Levy, Hanan Greenberg, Efrat Weiss, Shachar Haselkorn, Ronny Gal and Liron Milshtein contributed to this report

Fatal bus crash in south claims 25 lives

(Video) Tourist bus dives 45-feet down off Highway 12 just north of southern resort city of Eilat. Event declared mass casualty event as large search-rescue team flock to area; 33 people injured