[EARLIER UPDATES IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

15:23: EMS personnel have completed treating and evacuating all victims from the scene. Zaka, fire rescue, police, accident investigators and others remain on the scene as efforts are underway towards opening the major vehicular thoroughfare.

15:19: Channel 2 News reports all of the victims are being transported to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva. There are 8 dead and 32 injured at this time, including 2 persons in serious condition and 2 moderate.

15:14: ZAKA Negev District Operations Officer Gadi Kellerman reports the bus was traveling towards Shoket Junction and the truck struck the left side of the bus and peeled a portion away. Zaka is working to extricate the remains of many of the victims killed in the accident from the bus.

Fire Department District Chief Eli Peretz reports that efforts are ongoing to assist in extricating the bodies from the bus, some under the seats. He stresses only then they will be able to determine the exact number of dead on the scene.

15:06: Zaka district commander Shimon Zaguri confirms 8 dead and “dozens injured” at the scene, adding the accident involves a bus and a tractor trailer. He adds all victims have been extricated from the scene.

15:03: MDA Chief Eli Bin reports over 50 injured at the scene. He adds there are fatalities on the scene and efforts to treat the victims on the scene are still ongoing. He adds that there are conflicting reports regarding the number of dead but he is confirming at least 5 dead.

15:00: The bus appears to have been operating on a local public transportation route between Lehavim and area communities.

14:58: It appears the passengers on the bus are members of the Bedouin community from nearby Rahat.

14:55: MDA Spokesman Zaki Heller reports the accident involved a bus and a tractor trailer, adding some of the victims are in critical condition. On an optimistic note he reports most of the victims are not in life-threatening condition. He declines to confirm that there are fatalities on the scene.

14:53: A number of people are described in serious condition. An unspecified number of people are trapped in the bus, which appears to be a tourist vehicle and not a public transportation bus.

14:50: Magen David Adom reports over 50 people being treated at the scene, Route 31 in Southern Israel.

A bus, tractor and other vehicles are involved. Most of the injured are bus passengers. Some of the victims must be extricated from the twisted metal.

The air force has been activated and at least three choppers have been dispatched to the scene to evacuate the victims.

14:48: Initial reports from the scene report eight fatalities. More to follow.

14:40 IL: Emergency personnel are still responding to a reported vehicular accident involving a bus and a truck near Lehavim Junction. According to numerous agencies, a tractor, a bus and numerous vehicles may have been involved. Ichud Hatzalah has declared a “mass response” as preliminary reports from the scene speak of at least 20 injured, some seriously.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)