One young Israel woman soldier was killed and 41 others were wounded, one of them very seriously wounded shortly around noon Thursday when a bus carrying 50 soldiers overturned.
The fatality was identified as Stav Fartoush from Maaleh Adumim. Several passengers were trapped under the bus. IDF helicopters assisted in the evacuation.
The IDF was at the scene to help rescue efforts and to protect workers and passengers from potential Palestinian Authority terrorists.
Police have ruled out the possibility that the bus was attacked by rock-throwing terrorists, and passengers said that that the driver, also a soldier, was was speeding.
Victims were trapped inside until rescue works could free them. Rescue efforts were hampered because the bus was armored, making it difficult to break windows to reach passengers.
The bus driver said that an Arab driver passed him, driving dangerously around a curve, which caused him to lose control of the bus.