Two Israeli tourists who were seriously injured in a car crash in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula succumbed to their wounds, the Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.
Five other Israelis were in the vehicle with the victims at the time of the crash, one of them was moderately hurt while the rest suffered mild injuries.
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The Israeli group arrives at Yoseftal Medical Center
(Photo: Meir Ohayon and Raz Galil)
The group was transferred to the border crossing in Taba, from where they were taken to Yoseftal Medical Center in the southern resort town of Eilat.
A 23-year-old woman was hospitalized in moderate condition with an abdominal injury and four other young men, aged 23, 24, 26 and 29, were receiving treatment for their injuries in the emergency room.
The Foreign Ministry said there was no danger to the lives of the injured.
The accident in the popular tourist destination took place when the van the Israeli group was driving collided head-on with another vehicle.
All injured Israelis were initially taken to a local clinic where the victims were pronounced dead.
The Foreign Ministry said that it was in contact with Egyptian authorities to facilitate the transfer of the group back to Israel. Ambulance service Magen David Adom teams were dispatched to Taba.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said that Air Force helicopters carrying Airborne Combat Rescue And Evacuation Unit 669 soldiers were dispatched to the Egyptian border in order to aid and evacuate those injured in the crash at the border crossing in Taba.
In June, a 49-year-old Israeli tourist drowned on a vacation with her husband in the Egyptian tourist hub. The Foreign Affairs ministry contacted her family and had her body transferred for burial in Israel.
Israel and Egypt officially agreed to expand flight routes between the two countries in March following a meeting between then-prime minister Naftali Bennett and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.