Doctors fighting for lives of two teens hurt in Eilat boating crash - Haaretz

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Last update - 18:33 22/08/2007

Doctors fighting for lives of two teens hurt in Eilat boating crash

By Haaretz Service

Doctors on Wednesday were fighting for the lives of two youths, aged 14 and 15, who were seriously injured in a Tuesday boating collision off the Eilat shore, spurring calls for police and public officials to crack down on dangerous overcrowding and operation of pleasure craft.

The Gan Yavne teens, identified as Lidor Aboudi and Omri Amar, were injured when a motorboat towing a water-skier collided with a boat and the towed innertube on which the boys and several others were riding.

Police said Wednesday that both boat drivers appeared to be at fault in the accident and are suspected of serious negligence. The driver of the ski boat along with a number of passengers were all looking to the rear, at a skier, when the craft plowed into the other boat and the innertube.

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"We're fighting for the lives of both of the youths," Tzachi Ben-Zion deputy director of the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, said Wednesday morning.

"The younger of the two has a compression fracture of the skull, the meaning of which is that he had the boat inside his head, which pushed the skull into the brain very seriously," Ben-Zion told Israel Radio.

"The older boy, the 15-year-old, sustained both bodily and cranial injuries. He had a severe blow to the chest, and underwent surgery overnight for the injuries to his head and body. He has very serious fractures of the ribs, as well as fractures of the spine."

Two other youths were hurt in the accident, but were released from the hospital on Tuesday.

Doron Heller, director of the Eilat marina, said that the problem of overcrowding of pleasure craft has existed for years in the sea off Eilat beaches, but that public officials have done nothing to address the dangers and correct the problem.

"Every time an accident like this happens, once every year or two, the same questions arise, but afterwards, things go on as before."

The two boats, which crashed at around 5 P.M. yesterday, were about 500 meters from the coast, in an area designated for water sports.

Witnesses said the four Gan Yavne youths were riding the inner tube and crashed into the water-skiing boat, which had one rider. They said one of the boats failed to obey regulations by making way for the other boat, though it was not immediately clear which boat had the right of way.

"One of the boats cut into the boat lane of the other boat," said police officer Eitan Gadesi. "As far as we know at this stage, both boaters have legal boating licenses, and the boats were found to have observation posts, as required by law."

Dan Hadar, who was riding on the inner tube, blamed the water-skiing boat, saying it collided with the rope connecting the inner tube to the boat.

"We're stunned by what took place," said Shuki Abu of Eilat, the owner of the water-sports club that owns the boat the Gan Yavne boys were using. He said the person guiding the boat has two years' experience.

"We were here at the stand, and suddenly a boat came with the injured on it. We went over to take care of them. I was very agitated. I saw two children lying down unconscious and I didn't know what happened with them," he said.

"Fortunately, we have people here who knew how to take care of them and revive them until the ambulances came. We got through the entire summer peacefully. The children come here to enjoy themselves, and look at how it ended."

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1.	Lucky	13:45	\|	Dav	22/08/07

2.	"spurs calls" or "spurring calls" - not both	13:51	\|	Shlomo	22/08/07

3.	boat inside his head - no laughing matter	13:56	\|	Shlomo	22/08/07

4.	to editor	14:31	\|	Shlomo	22/08/07

5.	Eilat - The Real Tragedy	15:13	\|	Concerned	22/08/07

6.	Shlomo simply facetious #2, #3, #4.	17:12	\|	Esther	22/08/07

7.	Lucky indeed	17:23	\|	Ron	22/08/07

8.	#7 Ron	18:41	\|	Dav	22/08/07

9.	Who cares?	18:52	\|	Hannah	22/08/07

10.	Zionism revealed, yet again	19:09	\|	Hannah	22/08/07

11.	Gan Yavne Boating Accident	15:23	\|	David	01/10/07

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