Light plane crash near Kafr Qara in Wadi Ara kills one man, injures another

Update, 2 October, 12:07 Israel time

Police have now confirmed the death. The Times of Israel reported that police announced the man who had been trapped inside the aircraft was pronounced dead at the scene. This is the first account in our reporting attributed to the police rather than to Magen David Adom or to media outlets.

The Times of Israel has also revised its description of the survivor. It now gives the condition of the 34-year-old man taken to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa as moderate to serious, where its earlier entry called him moderately injured. Magen David Adom's latest account still describes him as being in serious condition, sedated and ventilated, so the two descriptions do not fully match.

Separately, The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel's Fire and Rescue Authority said crews from its Hadera station had reached the site and were working there. Hadera is a coastal city west of Wadi Ara. The Jerusalem Post report does not give further detail on the firefighting operation.

Neither new report names the two men, identifies the aircraft, says who was flying it or gives a cause for the crash. Neither says whether Route 65 has reopened.

The story as first reported

A light aircraft crashed near Kafr Qara in the Wadi Ara area of northern Israel on Friday morning, killing one man and seriously injuring another, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency medical service. The service said its Sharon region dispatch centre received the call at 09:12, and that its medics later found a man of about 70 without signs of life, with injuries to multiple body systems and extensive burns. They pronounced him dead at the scene.

The second casualty, a 34-year-old man, was evacuated to Rambam Medical Center. Magen David Adom first described him as moderately hurt with burns, then updated his condition to serious, saying he was sedated and on a ventilator during the transfer. The Times of Israel reported that police were sent to the site, that Route 65 was shut to traffic and that drivers were asked to keep away.

Where the crash happened

Kafr Qara is a city southeast of Haifa, and the reports place the crash next to Route 65, the road that runs through Wadi Ara. Wadi Ara is the name Israelis use for the valley corridor where Kafr Qara sits, and several Hebrew outlets used it as the location of the incident. Ynet's alert service reported the road closure shortly after the first word of the crash.

According to early accounts cited by The Times of Israel, the aircraft came down in an open area and then caught fire. Ynet reported that firefighters worked to stop flames from the wreck from reaching nearby houses.

What kind of aircraft it was

None of the reports identifies the aircraft by type or owner with certainty. The Times of Israel, citing Kan, Israel's public broadcaster, said it appeared to have been a crop-dusting plane. News.co.il similarly described it as most likely an agricultural spraying aircraft. Light aircraft of this kind are used to spray fields from low altitude.

The rescue at the scene

The first reports described one person outside the aircraft and a second person trapped inside. News.co.il said medics were treating a casualty found outside the plane while another person, unconscious, remained inside, and that crews were waiting for fire and rescue teams to begin freeing him. Magen David Adom's early updates likewise referred to a trapped casualty, whom it later described as being in critical condition.

The 101 number referred to in Magen David Adom's statements is its emergency hotline. The organisation's paramedics and medics provide first response across the country and transport patients to hospital. Rambam Medical Center, where the 34-year-old was taken, is a major hospital in Haifa.

N12 reported that the trapped man had been pronounced dead and that the seriously hurt casualty had been sent to Rambam. A later N12 update gave the dead man's approximate age as 70, matching Magen David Adom's account.

Where the accounts differ

The reports do not agree on how badly the surviving man was hurt, largely because his condition was described at different moments. News.co.il's first update called the man outside the aircraft lightly injured. Magen David Adom and Ynet described him as moderately injured, and Magen David Adom then reported him in serious condition, sedated and ventilated. Ynet's alert service also relayed that he was in serious condition. The Times of Israel's entry still listed him as moderately injured.

The first Ynet alert spoke of a single injured person, and The Times of Israel's headline referred to two people injured, before the death was confirmed.

What the reports do not say

The reports do not name either man, and they do not say which of them, if either, was flying the aircraft. They do not state where the plane took off from, where it was heading, or what it was doing at the time. No cause for the crash is given, and no report mentions an investigation by any aviation or police authority. It is also not stated whether anyone on the ground was hurt or whether any homes were damaged by the fire, or when Route 65 reopened.