At least five Palestinians suffocated to death and 11 were wounded on Friday while digging a smuggling tunnel beneath the Egyptian-Gaza Strip border, hospital workers said. According to Reuters, witnesses said the tunnel was being dug to smuggle goods from Egypt into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Dr. Moawiya Hassanen, head of the Emergency Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the toll. He added that the accident was probably caused by a gas explosion. According to him, most of the casualties suffocated after the tunnel collapsed on them.
