Officer and woman killed in deadly holiday weekend on roads, 10 cyclists hurt
Police officer (27) killed, colleague (21) moderately hurt in rollover accident in J'lem; In Yavne, woman (59) killed in crash between two vehicles.
Deadly holiday weekend on Israel's roads: A police officer (27) was killed and his colleague (21) moderately hurt Friday morning when the police car they were riding in rolled over in Jerusalem.
Several hours later, ten cyclists were hurt when two vehicles were involved in a collision between the Kastina Junction and the Bnei Re'em junction in the south. Also on Friday, a woman (59) was killed in a car accident on Highway 42 near Yavne.
In the accident in Yavne, reported to Magen David Adom (MDA) in the Ayalon district at 10 am, the woman became trapped in one of the cars after a collision between two vehicles. The woman was pronounced dead after rescue forces extracted her from the car in a prolonged rescue operation. MDA evacuated an 85-year-old woman, who sustained light injuries in the crash, to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.
In the accident on Highway 3 near Bnei Re'em, medical teams were treating 12 wounded – ten cyclists and two drivers. All were lightly injured, except for one cyclist who was moderately hurt. Nine of the wounded have been evacuated to the Kaplan Medical Center and three were taken to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. The accident was reported to the police at around 9:45 am.
An initial investigation revealed that a car struck another vehicle that was accompanying the cyclists, who were hurt as a result of the collision.
An investigation by the traffic police indicates that the cyclists were riding on Highway 3 from Masmia Junction, towards the east, with the accompanying vehicle driving behind them. For a reason that is still unclear, a car driving behind the vehicle struck the accompanying vehicle.
Chief Superintendant Rami Raz, the central district traffic police commander, said: "Ten cyclists were hurt in the accident, as well as the driver of the accompanying vehicle and the other driver. We will question the driver, who was taken to a hospital and has yet to give her account of the incident, and will examine how the accident occurred.
"It is important that drivers pay attention to cyclists. This accident could have ended much worse," he said.
The first accident on Friday occurred at 5:30 am, when a police car turned over in Jerusalem. The two officers were evacuated to the Hadassah Medical Center in the city. The officer, who was critically injured, was taken to the hospital's trauma unit, but was pronounced dead after CPR efforts.
The condition of the second officer is listed as moderate and she is currently hospitalized. The Jerusalem police said that the traffic police launched an investigation into the circumstances of the accident.
On Wednesday, a woman (70) died from wounds sustained while crossing a street in a marked crosswalk in Netanya, to get a phone charger for her husband who was undergoing a medical evaluation. The woman had accompanied her husband, who was feeling ill, for an examination in a medical center in the city. After the examination, it was decided to immediately evacuate him to the city's Laniado Hospital.
The woman was hit by a car while attempting to cross the road, on her way home to get the charger for her husband. She was evacuated to the hospital while sedated and on a respirator, and was pronounced dead in the facility. Her husband, who had been waiting for her at the hospital, did not know that doctors were fighting for his wife's life during his own evacuation to the hospital.
"She was a charming and wonderful woman," a relative said. "It's devastating that she was killed like that near her home, while she only wanted to help her husband." The offending driver was detained for questioning.
