Female soldier killed, dozens injured as bus overturns in West Bank
Soldier trapped under the bus has died, three others moderately wounded and 34 lightly hurt in accident near Kokhav HaShahar.
A female soldier was killed and some 39 other soldiers were injured when a bus carrying military personnel overturned near the Kokhav HaShahar settlement in the West Bank on Thursday afternoon.
The civilian bus was transporting some 50 soldiers from their army base to Jerusalem.
Air Force Corporal Stav Partush, aged 19 from Ma'ale Adumim, was trapped under the overturned bus in critical condition, and later succumbed to her wounds. Three others were in moderate condition, while about 34 were lightly hurt.
IAF helicopters were called to the scene of the accident to help evacuate the seriously wounded to the hospital.
Ten of the injured were taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem's Mount Scopus, five were taken to Hadassah Ein Karem, 10 more were taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Ten were taken to the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, while two were taken to the Beilinson Hospital at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
Ze'ev Sopher, the head of the transportation division at United Hatzalah, a volunteer medics organization, said, "When I arrived on the scene, I realized the accident was severe, and involved a bus which flipped into a ditch on the side of the road. After administrating initial treatment, the injured were evacuated by helicopters and ambulances to hospitals across central Israel. Sadly, a young woman was declared dead at the scene, after she was trapped under the bus."
The driver of the bus told ynet, "I took 40 soldiers from their base to Jerusalem. In the middle of the way at Kochav Hasachar, there was a right turn and zig zag. A Palestinian vehicle came up to me, almost hit me, and I turned the wheel to the right and then left, and in the middle the bus fell to the right. "
The cause of the accident was being examined.
This is a developing story.
Rotem Elizera, Yael Friedson, Omri Efraim, Yoav Zitun and Raanan Ben-Zur contributed to this story.
