Five Israelis from Safed killed in fatal car accident in Morocco

Five Israelis were killed in a fatal car accident near the city of Ouarzazate in Morocco, Israeli media reported on Friday morning.

ZAKA headquarters received a report at 10:00 on Friday morning that a vehicle carrying five Israelis had lost control and overturned, and all the passengers were killed as a result.

The five killed were residents of Safed, and were all Breslov Hasidim, two of whom had families.

The victims have been named as Moshe Gallant, 18, Meir Israel Shasha, 25, Rabbi Natan Shapira, 36, Chaim Yosef Teplinsky, 20, and Rabbi Shimon Teplinsky, 33. 

Safed Mayor Yossi Kakkon said in a statement to the city's residents: "It is with great sadness that I learned of a serious car accident that occurred tonight in Morocco, involving a number of Safed residents. We are in constant contact with the Foreign Ministry and the official authorities handling the incident."

Haim Weingarten, Deputy Director General of the ZAKA organization, said: "From the moment we received the report, we in the international unit have been working with the authorities in Morocco to expedite the process of releasing and identifying the bodies, and also to assist the families in doing everything possible to bring them to burial."

Questionable road safety in Morocco

Morocco's General Directorate for National Security (DGSN) reported that in the weeklong span, from November 25 to December 1, some 16 people were killed in urban road accidents.

In the 2,155 recorded accidents in the time span, 2,914 were injured, 129 seriously.

 This is a developing story.