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NEWS
Specialized Yad Sarah Transport Van Stolen in Jerusalem
By Yechiel Sever
A Yad Sarah van used to transport handicapped people was stolen from Jerusalem's Kiryat Yovel neighborhood recently. Equipped with a wheelchair mini-elevator and various harnessing and safety features, the specialized transport vehicle, known as a Nachonit in Hebrew, is valued at NIS 280,000 ($70,000), which was raised through donations.
Vehicle tracking service Ituran issued an alert that the van had been stolen, but police and soldiers were unable to stop the vehicle before it reached the Hevron area. A number of rides for handicapped passengers in the Jerusalem area had to be cancelled or postponed following the theft — the second such incident in recent weeks.
"We equip Nachonit vehicles with a range of security measures, but nothing helps," says Moshe Cohen, vehicle manager at Yad Sarah. "These are vans used to transport the handicapped, without which they are confined to their homes. The insurance company does not cover the full value of the vehicle and we have to go out looking for donors to make up the shortfall. In any case, we're now short two Nachonit vehicles and we've had to refuse people asking for transportation assistance."
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