IDF tank flips while boarding transport truck; none injured
An Israel Defense Forces tank flipped over on Sunday while trying to drive up onto a transport truck, the military said.
No one was injured in the incident, the IDF said.
In a video of the incident (above), the tank can be seen slowly driving onto the transport truck in the Jordan Valley. After it boards the truck, however, the tank continues traveling forward, gaining speed and flying over the side of the truck before landing upside down.
The tank’s fire suppression system was then apparently activated.
The driver of the tank, 24, was taken to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Mt. Scopus. He was lightly bruised, but was not found to be seriously injured. “He will remain for treatment and observation until tomorrow,” a hospital spokesperson said.
The military launched an investigation into the matter. The driver said the armored vehicle continued accelerating after he took his foot off the gas, Channel 12 news reported.
The head of the IDF’s 99th Division forbade the use of all armored vehicles until a preliminary probe was conducted, the IDF said.
In December 2019, a tank flipped over during a training exercise in northern Israel. The four-person crew was pulled from the tank unscathed.
However, such types of accidents do not always end without serious injury.
In September 2017, two IDF soldiers — Lt. Avshalom Armoni and Sgt. Avinoam Cohen — were killed, and four more were injured, when a self-propelled howitzer in which they were traveling flipped over during a late-night training exercise in the Golan Heights.