Last update - 00:00 20/08/2007
2 children killed, father hurt in car crash in southern Israel
By Revital Levy-Stein, Haaretz Correspondent
A 12-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl were killed Monday afternoon in a car accident in southern Israel. Their father was moderately injured.
The father, who had been driving the vehicle, was taken by an Israel Defense Forces helicopter to Be'er Sheva's Soroka Medical Center.
The collision occurred on the Arava highway in the southern part of Israel.The driver of the car swerved from the lane he was in for no apparent reason and crashed into the oncoming truck. The father and his two children were dual Israeli-French citizens, on their way back home from a vacation in Eilat.
The boy sat in the front seat, and the girl sat in the back. The force of the collision killed both children instantly.
The traffic police in Eilat reported that the preliminary investigation into the incident it had emerged that the truck driver had done everything within his power to brake and avoid the crash. "At this time we cannot find any fault with the truck driver," the police reported. "He swerved to the right and did everything to avoid an accident."
The police do not know why the father swerved into the truck's path.
The truck driver was unharmed, but was taken to the Yoseftal Medical Center in Eilat after complaining of feeling ill.
Large police forces have closed off the section of the highway where the accident occurred in both directions.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the police have records of 1,321 car accidents involving injuries or deaths across the country in July. 23 of these were lethal, and 140 involved serious injuries. 2,454 people were hurt in car accidents in July, 24 were killed and 160 were seriously injured.
In a separate incident in the southern region, two Thai workers were hurt after falling into a sewage shaft near Kibbutz Lotan. The two were conducting repairs. One of the men was seriously injured, and the other was moderately hurt. They were taken to Yoseftal Medical Center in Eilat.