A 20-year-old soldier in the IDF's elite Maglan unit was lightly-to-moderately hurt on Wednesday during a training exercise near Mahanayim Airport in northen Israel.
A preliminary investigation found that the unit's soldiers were conducting parachuting training in the area, and apparently due to human error, the soldier deviated from the range in which he was supposed to land, landed in a nearby area and slammed into a concrete wall.
The soldier sustained a head injury. A team of paramedics from United Hatzalah arrived at the scene and administered first aid. The soldier was evacuated by helicopter to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, where he had undergone a CT scan.
"He is mechanically ventilated and suffers from several fractures in the facial bones," explained Dr. Shahar Gruner, a senior surgeon who treated the soldier.
Following the accident, all IDF parachuting training was halted for 36 hours, pending the completion of the full investigation of the grave incident.
The initial investigation revealed that Wednesday's weather conditions were reasonable with winds at a speed of less than eight knots. It appears the soldier, who has a great deal of parachuting experience with nearly 100 jumps under his belt, was injured as a result of a misjudgment during the landing stage.