Once again, it appears that alcohol played a major factor in the erev shabbos fatal motor vehicle accident which claimed 6 lives on Rt. 38 near Ramat Bet Shemesh.

It was a sunny erev shabbos, but when the BMW 3 series slammed into the Subaru sedan, things changed instantaneously. Anna Strovolovsky, 62, understood immediately that she was the sole survivor in the vehicle. Her husband, Aaron, who was driving the Subaru, tried desperately to avoid a head-on collision with the BMW that was heading directly at them, but there was simply no escape route. It was clear the BMW veered into their lane, and there was no where to turn.

Aaron, 63, his mother Rachel, 86, and family friend Olga Rabinowitz, 73, both seated in the rear, were killed immediately. Anna was transported to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital aware she was the only survivor in the vehicle. Aviva Pesach, Anna’s 33-year-old daughter, explained to reporters that her mom is aware of the tragic outcome of the accident. “She remembers the vehicle that took a sudden turn and headed directly at them”, she added.

Aviva’s parents, grandmother and family friend were on their way to a concert in Bet Jubrin when the BMW heading towards Jerusalem slammed into them, head-on, snuffing out their precious lives.

Her parents immigrated to Eretz Yisrael in 1973, both electronic engineers. Aaron worked on developing new technology in Israel Aircraft Industries. He was credited with many leading innovations.

Rachel, Aaron’s mother, was living alone since her husband was niftar seven years ago. She was an English teacher in their native Lithuania as well as in Israel.

According to the preliminary police investigation, the BMW was driving at excessive speed on the two-lane road, one lane in each direction without a divider. The impact occurred a number of kilometers south of the entrance to Bet Shemesh, apparently after the occupants of the BMW returned from a Friday afternoon leisure event at an area pool. Police are conducting tests but on Sunday morning, officials announced it appears some of the occupants of the BMW were under the influence of alcohol, including the driver, who appeared to have realized he veered out of his lane and lost control of the car while trying to execute corrective action, striking the Subaru head-on.

One driver told Jerusalem Police Chief Aaron Franco that the driver struck his vehicle prior to the accident, stopping at the scene of the carnage to give his testimony after realizing the same vehicle was involved in the crash.

Responders saw the scene, one of twisted metal and body parts, intertwined in a heap of wreckage, making life-saving efforts extremely difficult. Six bodies were discovered in the two vehicles.

Killed in the BMW were Assaf Maimon, 20, Moshe Iluz, 19 and Shir Malka, 16, who got a ride from them trying to return home from the pool. Also seated in the vehicle, the survivors from the BMW, were Netanel Edri, 20 and Eliyahu Atias, 16, both listed in moderate-to-serious condition.

Family members heard of the accident and arrived at the scene, refusing to accept the bitter reality, began exhibiting agitated behavior, truly grief-stricken and seeking to reject the impact of what their eyes had just seen.

Paramedic Dan Farchi, a 25-year MDA veteran stated he does not recall an accident with 6 DOAs, lamenting the bloody reality of the erev shabbos scene. He explained the Subaru was totally destroyed and that the fatalities in the BMW were apparently not wearing seatbelts.

Chief Franco confirms that all of the occupants of the Subaru were wearing seatbelts while only some of the passengers in the BMW were, those who survived. Police are conducting tests to determine if the driver, Assaf Maimon, was driving under the influence, with police accident investigators reporting a number of empty beer cans and other alcoholic beverage were recovered from the remains of the BMW.

That accident brought the number of road fatalities since January 1, 2009 to 181.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)