A bus filled with Russian travel agents plunged into a desert ravine near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat, killing at least 25 people, rescue services said. The Israel driver was also killed.
According to the AP, the driver of another tour bus said the vehicle sped by in a no-passing zone, crashed through a guard rail and rolled down the slope.
Israeli television showed debris strewn along the slope near Israel's southern tip, with bodies in white bags laid out in a row at the bottom of the ravine.
A spokeswoman for Israel's tourism ministry said the 60 passengers on the bus were Russian. Eilat municipal official Avi Cohen told Channel 2 TV that they were from St. Petersburg and had just arrived in the city. At least 40 ambulances rushed to the scene and Israel's air force dispatched six helicopters to evacuate the seriously wounded to hospitals across the country. Israeli rescue services said 25 people were killed and most surviving passengers were injured.
