Teenager Performs CPR on Friend After Suffering Own Injuries in Ammunition Explosion

One day after an ammunition explosion at the Ramim Ridge during a student trip, further accounts have emerged detailing the moments of terror and efforts to treat the injured. Yair Frankenthal, a 15-year-old from Ma'alot and a youth volunteer for MDA (Magen David Adom), sustained injuries himself in the incident but immediately began assisting his friends. "I noticed he had no pulse and wasn't breathing, so I performed CPR on him until the MDA responder arrived," he recounted. Frankenthal later checked on his younger brother, who was also wounded by shrapnel. "A friend next to him helped stop the bleeding, and I instructed him on what to do so I could attend to those more seriously injured," he said. Frankenthal himself suffered minor injuries from two shrapnel fragments that hit his leg and shoulder.

David Radko, a 29-year-old MDA emergency medical technician and motorcycle unit volunteer from Kiryat Shmona, was the first to reach the scene. Radko, who also works as a high school educator, described the grim scene: "From the initial glance, it looked like a very difficult scene. The injured were scattered along the road, some holding their wounded friends and trying to help them. Further down the road, I saw the more severely injured."

He also spoke of the personal difficulty he experienced, stating, "I myself work as an educator for a 10th-grade high school, and arriving at such an event makes you think of the injured teenagers as if you were their teacher. Unconsciously, I immediately put myself in the shoes of the teachers who were on that trip."

Meanwhile, the Ziv Medical Center in Safed reported that out of 14 individuals brought to the hospital following the incident, 11 have been released. Among those released were nine students treated in the pediatric department and another individual, approximately 50 years old, who was hospitalized in the surgical department. Three victims remain hospitalized: two children in the pediatric intensive care unit, one in serious but stable condition, sedated and ventilated, and the other in moderate condition. An additional patient, 48 years old, is hospitalized in the surgical department.

The incident occurred yesterday at 14:53 when leftover ammunition in the area detonated during a student trip on the Ramim Ridge, resulting in the death of one teenager and injuries to others. Following the report received by MDA's 101 emergency hotline, large forces were dispatched, including ambulances, intensive care units, MDA responders on motorcycles, and MDA helicopters, alongside IDF helicopters. Rescue teams provided medical treatment to the injured and worked to evacuate them from the area.