A 35-year-old avreich was critically injured on Monday morning when his car collided with a bus in Beitar Illit.

Fire and Rescue Services called to the scene extricated the avreich, who was trapped in the car, and transferred him to emergency medical services, who began resuscitation efforts and evacuated him to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in critical condition while continuing efforts to revive him.

His name for tefillah is אביתר בן בושמת b’toch sha’ar cholei Yisrael.

The force of the collision shattered the bus’s windows. Seven bus passengers were evacuated from the scene to Hadassah and Shaare Tzedek Hospitals in light condition.

United Hatzalah volunteer paramedics said: “Due to the nature of the event, crisis intervention teams – the mental first aid unit of United Hatzalah – operated at the site to assist the driver’s family and passersby who encountered the severe scene.”

Fire Chief Michael Almasi said: “Upon receiving the report, firefighters and volunteers from the Beitar Illit station were dispatched. Upon arrival at the scene, we encountered a difficult and complex scene of a traffic accident between a bus and a private vehicle, with an unconscious individual trapped in the private vehicle.”

A MDA paramedic said: “We received a report of a serious head-on traffic accident involving a car and a bus. We arrived at the scene quickly and saw the bus and car with severe body damage. The driver of the car was trapped while the passengers of the bus were walking towards us.”

“The driver of the car, a man approximately 35 years old, was unconscious, not breathing and without a pulse, and suffered from severe injuries to his limbs and abdomen. During the firefighters’ rescue operations, we began performing advanced resuscitation efforts and evacuated him in an MDA intensive care unit to the hospital, while continuing resuscitation efforts as his condition was critical. During the evacuation and after the intensive resuscitation efforts, his heart began to beat again.”

“We also evacuated lightly injured victims to the hospital with the help of additional MDA ambulances, including the bus passengers and the driver, who suffered from minor injuries and bleeding.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)