An Israeli bus full of newly arrived Russian tourists veered off a desert road and plunged down a ravine today, killing at least 24 people and seriously injuring about a dozen more.
The crash, in the desert north of the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat, was one of the worst Israeli road accidents for years.
Soldiers, police and rescue workers rushed to the scene and army helicopters helped evacuate dozens of injured survivors.
"I saw people flying out of the windows as the bus rolled down the slope," said one driver who witnessed the crash.
Bodies, baggage and bits of wreckage were scattered over the steep slope down from the highway, and the bus lay on its side on the rocky desert floor.
An officer shouted orders through a bull-horn as stretcher teams laid out a long line of white plastic body-bags.
Israel's Airport Authority said the victims had just arrived from St. Petersburg at Ovda airport, which serves Eilat.
A police source said they were Russian tourists. An official at the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv said he had no confirmed information, but the embassy had sent a representative to the scene.
The Zaka rescue service reported 24 people were killed and about a dozen seriously injured.
National police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said helicopters were flying injured passengers to a hospital in Beersheba and others were taken by ambulance to a hospital in Eilat.
Eilat, at Israel's southern tip, borders on Jordan and Egypt and is a popular tourist destination. It is a particularly popular spot for Russians who come for winter sunshine.
Reuters