Magen David Adom (MDA) published testimonies Monday evening from emergency personnel who arrived at the scene of the explosion on the Ramim Ridge in the Upper Galilee, where a boy approximately 14 years old was killed and 24 people were injured during an annual school trip by ORT Ma'alot Yeshiva High School.
According to MDA, two boys approximately 14 years old were seriously injured, ten people sustained moderate injuries, and another 12 teenagers were lightly injured. The casualties were evacuated to Ziv Medical Center, Rambam Medical Center, and the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
MDA emergency medical technician David Radko, who was the first to arrive at the scene on a motorcycle, recounted finding injured people scattered along the trail, including students attempting to help their friends.
"I was the first to arrive at the scene on an MDA motorcycle, and I immediately saw the scale of the incident. The injured were scattered along the trail, some holding their injured friends and trying to help them. Farther along the trail, I saw the more seriously injured casualties. I immediately began triaging the casualties and stopping the bleeding," he recalled.
According to Radko, some of the students had already begun taking measures to stop bleeding before emergency personnel could treat all the casualties.
"Despite the horrific scenes and the distress, the injured cooperated with me in an extraordinary way. Everyone tried to help their friends as much as they could. Some even applied tourniquets to their friends to stop the bleeding. I gave them instructions on how to help, and they listened and acted accordingly."
He added, "It was an extremely difficult and complex scene, and it is not easy to see injured children in such a condition. We did everything we could to provide them with the best possible treatment."
MDA paramedic Osama Masoud, who arrived in the first mobile intensive care unit at the scene, described the condition of the casualties and the attempts to resuscitate the boy who died.
"There was a great deal of shouting and commotion at the scene, and the injured were terrified. We saw several seriously injured people lying along the access path from the road to the forest, including a boy who was unconscious. After performing resuscitation efforts together with a military medical team, we were forced to pronounce him dead."
He continued, "We triaged the injured and began providing rapid medical treatment. Among the casualties were two boys approximately 14 years old who had sustained shrapnel injuries throughout their bodies, in addition to other injured people who were walking around us.
"We provided lifesaving medical treatment, including stopping bleeding and applying bandages. We evacuated the injured to helicopters that landed nearby and transported others to hospitals in MDA ambulances."
MDA paramedic Orly Ben Simon, who also participated in treating the casualties, described the resuscitation efforts performed on the boy.
"There was a great deal of commotion and shouting at the scene. Amid the cries for help, we identified several casualties with varying degrees of injuries, including a 14-year-old boy who was unconscious and in critical condition.
"We immediately began prolonged and intensive resuscitation efforts. Unfortunately, his injuries were critical, and we were forced to pronounce him dead at the scene."
MDA Jordan Region Director Itzik Shushan said that large numbers of ambulances, mobile intensive care units, and helicopters were dispatched to the scene immediately after the report was received.
"This was a complex and difficult incident. We provided medical treatment to all the injured, some of whom were evacuated to hospitals by an MDA helicopter and military helicopters. Additional MDA teams waited at the helicopter landing pads to transfer the injured into the hospitals," he said.
The IDF believes the explosion was caused by a cluster munition fired by Hezbollah toward the area during the war that remained on the ground without detonating.
According to the preliminary investigation, one of the students noticed the unexploded ordnance during a break on the school trip, picked it up, and placed it in his bag. Shortly afterward, the device exploded.