The bus, carrying children and teenagers returning from a Bnei Akiva youth movement trip, flipped on its side after the crash, trapping several people underneath and making it difficult for rescue services to arrive.

By JNS

At least five people were killed and dozens more injured when a bus crashed into a car and a van on Route 89, near the town of Hurfeish in the Upper Galilee on Wednesday afternoon.

According Magen David Adom, a 45-year-old man, a 35-year-old woman, a 15-year-old boy, a 12-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl—four of them from the car and one from the bus—were pronounced dead on the scene.

The bus, carrying 40 passengers, most of them children and teenagers returning from a Bnei Akiva youth movement day trip, flipped on its side upon impact, trapping several people underneath and making it difficult for rescue services to arrive.

Military medics were transported to the site by Israel Air Force helicopters to extract the injured and evacuate the injured to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, the IDF said in a statement.

United Hatzalah dispatched its Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit to the scene to provide emotional support to the survivors, the organization announced.