JERUSALEM (JTA) — A female Israeli soldier, 19, was killed when a bus carrying dozens of soldiers overturned in the West Bank.
Cpl. Stav Partush was identified by the Israel Defense Forces as the dead soldier. Her rank was posthumously raised to sergeant. Some 42 other passengers, all soldiers, were injured in the accident near the Kohav Hashahar settlement on Thursday morning. At least one soldier with serious injuries was airlifted to a hospital in central Israel, according to reports.
The bus driver told the Hebrew-language news website Walla! that he lost control of the bus after a Palestinian car passed him wildly on a bend in the road.
The bus was carrying soldiers from their army base to Jerusalem.
Several soldiers were trapped in the bus after it overturned, and it was difficult to extract them from the bus since it was armored, to protect against rock and shooting attacks.
