Vehicle collision in Israel leaves five dead, dozens hurt

JERUSALEM (AP) — A bus collided with two vehicles on a highway in northern Israel on Wednesday, leaving five people dead and dozens more injured, according to paramedics.

The bus crashed into a truck and a taxi carrying four passengers on a twisting mountain highway in northern Israel’s upper Galilee region.

Israel’s national emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, said in a statement that four of the deceased were passengers from the taxi, including a 35-year-old woman and three children aged 15, 12 and 5. The fifth fatality was the 45-year-old male driver of the bus. All were pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Magen David Adom, 32 people were taken to nearby hospitals while three seriously injured victims were airlifted to a hospital in the northern city of Haifa.

In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sent his condolences to the families of those killed, saying “the entirety of the people of Israel prays for the health of the injured.”