A bus traveling from Kiryat Sanz in Netanya to Bnei Brak on Tuesday morning slipped off a bridge into a ditch and overturned, injuring 18 people.

In a neis, the victims were only lightly injured and fully conscious, they extricated themselves from the bus on their own.

According to a police spokesperson, the accident, which occurred on Highway 5, near the Glilot Intersection, began when the bus collided with a car on the highway, causing it to careen off the road and into the ditch. Hatzalah paramedics who were called to the scene treated the injured and evacuated them to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah, Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.

MDA paramedics Meidan Ben-Yoash and Guy Goldschmidt said: “When we arrived at the scene, we saw the bus upside down on the side of the road at the junction between Route 5 and Highway 20. We began assisting the bus passengers, who were on the shoulder of the road, and at the same time, we entered the bus via the broken door to ensure that there were no trapped casualties and joined the firefighter forces who ensured that there were no casualties under the bus. The accident could have ended in tragedy and miraculously all the bus passengers were only slightly injured.”

Hatzalah paramedics said: “The bus passengers told us that during the trip from Netanya to Bnei Brak, the bus fell off the bridge and overturned on its side. Miraculously, the bus passengers were fully conscious and some of them suffered bruises and minor injuries and got out of the bus on their own.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)