Horrifying eyewitness accounts: "The sights were horrifying, a true apocalypse. I saw flames as high as 50 meters (more than 150 feet)" said a Magen David Adom ambulance driver Pninit Boyev, lightly hurt during the evacuation of Damon Prison on Thursday as authorities battled a major northern blaze.
A paramedic called to the site where a Prison Service bus was burned also described shocking sights.
"I saw dozens of bodies and I realized that no one survive," she said.
The prison evacuation, near kibbutz Beit Oren, culminated in terrible tragedy, as at least 40 Prison Service course cadets were burned alive in the flaming bus sent to help evacuate the prison.
"While evacuating Damon Prison, we faced plenty of smoke, and even though I was wearing my mask the smoke overwhelmed me and I became dizzy,"Boyev said. "I arrived at the hospital, short of breath with a high pulse, and I was given oxygen,"
The ambulance driver who currently hospitalized at Mount Carmel Hospital.
Boyev says she did not think twice about offering her help despite the difficult circumstances.
"I've never seen anything like it. It was extremely scary, but the moment I got there I didn't feel fear," she said. "Only when I began to not feel well did I become scared and started to think about how to to get out of this smoke cloud."
A Prison Service course cadet from Kiryat Ata, Shlomi Cohen, was lightly hurt and hospitalized at Rambam Hospital.
"He hasn't stopped crying about his dead friends," said his father, Avi Cohen. "He's crying and crying nonstop. Almost the entire course is gone. He said there are only three or four survivors. It's a Hanukkah miracle for my son, but I feel horrible about this huge disaster."
IDF paramedic Daria Nicolyenko was called to the scene and witnessed the burned down bus.
"I was called to the scene, along with a doctor and three other paramedics. The bus was completely burned, I saw dozens of bodies lying on the ground, and I realized no one survived. It was horrifying, like a bad movie. There was plenty of smoke and fire, it was an inferno."
Yoav Zitun contributed to the story
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