Israeli police have arrested the driver involved in a fatal crash Thursday afternoon near the city of Modiin.
The driver, a 44-year-old Arab resident of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, was arrested Thursday night in connection with the crash. On Friday morning, the suspect was brought before the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court, which extended his arrest. Police say the driver is being held on suspicion of negligence resulting in death, reckless driving, and deviating from the lanes designated for driving.
Four passengers of the minibus the suspect was driving were killed and nine more injured when the vehicle crashed into a security barrier on the side of the road on Route 443. One of the injured was listed in moderate condition, the eight others in light condition.
The passengers were recently released convicts who had been paroled and released to a halfway house in Jerusalem. The parolees had been out of the halfway house on a day trip in honor of Independence Day Thursday, and were on their way back to Jerusalem when the minibus crashed.
MDA emergency first responders treated the victims at the scene before evacuating them to Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Assaf Harofe in Tzirfin, and Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem.