IDF Colonel Dr. Dudu Dagan, deputy commander of the IDF Medical Corps is heading medical efforts in Burgas following the bombing attack against Israeli tourists in the airport.

Dagan explains the situation is better than they expected but in Sofia, there are still two victims listed in serious condition. Members of the IDF medical team are going to join the local medical effort to treat those victims, hopefully to stabilize them and bring them home as soon as possible.

The other victims, number 34, are on board an Israel Air Force flight about to takeoff for Ben-Gurion International Airport where MDA ambulances are standing by. The victims have all been triaged and tagged so to speak, and upon arrival in Tel Aviv they have already been designated regarding hospital transport following their arrival.

Dr. Dagan explains that the team is comprised of IDF physicians and other medical professionals, along with members of the IAF’s elite 699 search & rescue unit. The plane is scheduled to touch down in Ben-Gurion later Thursday morning, 29 Tammuz 5772. Security around the survivors of the attack and the attack site is extremely heavy, uniformed IDF personnel can be seen surrounding the area where the bomb exploded, the remnants of the bus towards maintaining the integrity of the attack scene in the hope efforts of investigators will not be compromised by persons moving or tampering with the evidence.

Zaka and IDF victim identification personnel are also operating to identify the bodies of those killed and prepare them for transport home. Five of the dead are identified as Israelis. The other two bodies are that of the bus driver, a local national, and the suicide bomber.

An average of 200,000 Israelis visit Bulgaria annually, most visiting Burgas during the summer months.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)