IDF soldier miraculously survives anti-tank missile blast

"R.",  a 21-year-old IDF combat soldier serving in Gaza a few weeks ago, was hit by an anti-tank, rocket-propelled grenade launcher, causing blast wounds that shattered his ceramic protective vest leading to penetrating wounds in his back and chest. 

“We were standing and getting ready to leave that area that we had already been in for several days, and within an hour, we were going to be moving to the next location.  All of a sudden, we heard a blast, and I was thrown to the ground,” he recalled. His fellow soldiers yelled to check if everyone was alright, but R. couldn’t even respond.  “I desperately wanted to say I’d been hit and needed help, but I couldn’t do it. I felt that I couldn’t speak and was completely unable to breathe on my own or call for help.”

Critical thinking in a critical situation

He said he tried to think what he could do and summoned the energy to spit as aggressively as possible – shuffling along the ground so someone would notice. “I could tell that I was spitting blood, but that forced me to try and make as much noise as possible.” Minutes later, his efforts paid off, and a rescue team arrived that evacuated him by armored vehicle to the helicopter rendezvous point, where he was flown to Soroka-University Medical Center in Beersheba.

The training and experience of the IDF rescue team made it possible for them to identify that he had suffered an abdominal wound that was impacting his breathing; their intervention was critical in saving his life. “Within an hour, I was in the operating theater at Soroka, where they were able to further stabilize my condition."

Later, he was transferred to Shaare Zedek Medical Center (SZMC) for advanced treatment in Jerusalem, where he recovered and was released on Tuesday.

A miraculous recovery

Dr. Danny Fink, director of SZMC’s cardiothoracic surgery unit, said: “There is no doubt that his survival is miraculous.  He was dealt an incredible amount of good luck.”

“The patient arrived after a very serious abdominal injury. We’re talking about a case where blood and air penetrated his chest, and his right lung had collapsed, and we essentially had to restore the functioning of the lung,” Fink said.

“R’s ceramic vest saved his life, combined with the immediate response of the teams in the field who properly identified the wound and treated it promptly. If the blast would have hit just slightly to the right or left or he had been hit by shrapnel, the result could, God- forbid, have been fatal.”

“My life’s been given back to me by the two hospitals’ medical teams as a gift, and I am so deeply grateful,” R. said.