Israel Defense Forces Cpl. Eliyahu Drori, 20, from Beit Shemesh, was killed Friday and three other soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously, when the tank they were in caught fire after falling into a riverbed near the Israel-Egypt border.
Drori, who served with the 188th Armored Brigade, was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant.
According to available details, the tank was dispatched to the border after troops deployed in the area – having foiled a smuggling attempt near the Nitzana border crossing earlier on Friday evening – received intelligence that another smuggling attempt was about to take place in the same area.
An initial inquiry into the accident found that the driver of the tank had apparently miscalculated the steepness of the Nitzana River's slope, and the vehicle fell 4 meters (13 feet) down and caught fire.
The tank's automatic fire suppression system engaged but the cabin still filled with smoke, which, it is believed, caused Drori's death.
GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir and GOC Army Headquarters Maj. Gen. Yaakov Barak ordered an investigation into the incident, which will be headed by Armored Corps Col. Yair Or.
The Military Police have also launched an investigation into the incident, as is routine in cases involving noncombat deaths of military personnel.
A spokesman for the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where the three wounded soldiers are hospitalized, confirmed Saturday that two soldiers were in serious condition following the accident and the third had suffered minor injuries.
Drori's funeral was set for Sunday afternoon. He will be laid to rest at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.
