Worker, about 30, dies after forklift accident at Bu'eine Nujeidat factory

A man was killed on Wednesday night in a forklift accident at a factory in Bu'eine Nujeidat, a town in northern Israel. According to Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency medical service, its emergency call centre received a report at 22:52 of a worker injured by a forklift while on the job. Its paramedics and medics found a man of about 30 with no pulse and not breathing, suffering injuries to multiple parts of the body, and pronounced him dead at the scene. The service identified him as a foreign worker.

The Israeli news channel N12 reported that the man had been trapped beneath the forklift and that two firefighting and rescue crews from the Tiberias station worked to free him, using a second piece of engineering equipment to do so. He was brought out without signs of life, and medical personnel confirmed his death there. The news site Ynet also reported that a person had been caught under a forklift at a factory in the Lower Galilee and declared dead at the scene.

Where the accident happened

Bu'eine Nujeidat lies in the Lower Galilee, the hilly region of northern Israel that stretches inland from the coast toward the Sea of Galilee. The place name is transliterated from Arabic and Hebrew in several ways. N12 itself published the name with one spelling and later issued an edited version of its report using a different form, without changing any of the other details. The fire crews that responded came from the station in Tiberias, the largest city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

None of the reports names the factory or says what it produces.

Who responded

Magen David Adom, often shortened to MDA, is Israel's equivalent of a national ambulance and paramedic service and a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Members of the public reach it by dialling 101, its emergency number. The service divides the country into regional districts; MDA said this call was handled by its Yarden region, named for the Jordan River, which covers the area around the Sea of Galilee.

The firefighters belong to the Israel Fire and Rescue Authority, the national body responsible for firefighting and technical rescue, including freeing people trapped under heavy machinery or in collapsed structures. N12 credited the photograph accompanying its report to the fire service, which suggests the authority released images from the scene, though the image itself is not described in the material.

What the term "foreign worker" means here

MDA described the man, in parentheses in its statement, as a foreign worker. In Israeli usage the Hebrew phrase refers to a non-Israeli employed in the country, typically under a work permit, in sectors such as agriculture, construction, caregiving and industry. MDA did not give his nationality, and neither N12 nor Ynet referred to him as a foreign worker; both described him only as a person or a man.

How the accounts differ

The reports agree on the core facts: one man died, a forklift was involved, the location was a factory in Bu'eine Nujeidat in the Lower Galilee, and death was declared at the scene. They differ in emphasis. MDA's statement says the man was struck or injured by a forklift during his work, while N12 and Ynet describe him as trapped underneath it, with N12 adding that a rescue operation was needed to extract him. These accounts are not necessarily in conflict, but the material does not establish exactly how the machine came to be on top of him.

Only MDA gives the man's approximate age and the time the call came in. Only N12 reports the involvement of fire crews and the use of additional equipment to free him.

What the reports do not say

• The man's name and nationality have not been published.
• None of the reports explains how the accident occurred, whether the forklift overturned, whether he was operating it or whether another worker was at the controls.
• The name of the factory and its owner are not given.
• No report mentions a police investigation or an inquiry by workplace safety authorities, and none says whether anyone else was hurt.
• There is no statement from the employer.