The organs of Israel Defense Forces soldier Private Ma'ayan Rottenberg, who died Friday from injuries sustained while performing routine maintenance on a tank, were donated to five people.
Three men and one woman, all in Israel, received Rottenberg's heart, lungs, kidneys and pancreas. His liver is to be flown to Germany and transplanted into the body of a 54-year-old man.
The work accident took place on Wednesday at the Shizafon Armored Corps Base in the Arava Desert.
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Rottenberg, from Kibbutz Kfar Ha'emek, was evacuated by helicopter to the intensive care unit of Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva where he later died. He would have celebrated his 19th birthday next week.
Rottenberg had in his possession an Adi organ donor card. Because of his rare blood type, a suitable candidate for the liver transplant was not found in Israel. Medical authorities, with the permission of his family, decided therefore to send the liver to Germany.
The National Transplant Center explained that the move demonstrated Israel's cooperation with an international transplant organization of which Austria, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. In the last decade, the center said, five livers were sent to those countries after matches weren't found in Israel.
In Israel, a 51-year-old man received Rottenberg's heart, one kidney and a pancreas were transplanted into the body of a 40-year-old woman, one kidney into the body of a 63-year-old man and both lungs into the body of a 36-year-old man. Rottenberg's corneas will also be donated in coming days.
Third accident this month
At the time of Rottenberg's accident, the tank reportedly was not in motion, and a preliminary IDF investigation is probing whether the soldier was hurt while performing a routine check on the tank's weapons system.
Wednesday's marked the third accident this month involving on-duty IDF soldiers: Sergeant-Major Asaf Waxman was killed when he was crushed to death while driving an armored personnel carrier and Staff Sergeant Yariv Amitai was killed in a jeep accident while patrolling the border with the Gaza Strip.
A military police probe has found that Waxman had received no training on driving such a vehicle, nor did four other soldiers who were lightly to moderately injured when the APC overturned.
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