Fatal Chain-Reaction Crash on Coastal Highway Kills One, Injures Six

A woman was killed and six others were injured in a fatal chain-reaction collision involving four private vehicles on Highway 2 near Atlit on Sunday morning. Emergency medical services pronounced the woman, approximately 50 years old, dead at the scene. Six injured individuals were transported to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera. Among the injured, a man in his 60s is in serious condition, while the others sustained minor injuries.

The crash occurred on the Coastal Highway, with police and traffic accident investigators present to determine the cause. Paramedics described one vehicle as completely crushed and another overturned. The deceased woman was trapped in the crushed vehicle, suffering severe injuries. The man in his 60s was trapped in the overturned vehicle and received life-saving medical treatment during his extrication before being taken to the hospital.

This fatality marks the fifth road death in Israel within the past 24 hours. On Saturday, two people were killed near Karmiel, and another man was seriously injured. Earlier, a 93-year-old man died at the Ra'anana junction, and a foreign worker was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Eshkol.

According to the National Road Safety Authority, nearly 300 people have died in road accidents in Israel this year. While the number of fatalities is currently about 5% lower than the same period last year, experts warn that the trend of improvement seen earlier in the year is diminishing. At the current rate, they project that 2026 could see a similar number of road deaths as 2025, when 459 people died, the highest figure in over two decades.