Death trap on Highway 6: iron bars crushed an 'Egged' bus • 1 killed and 16 wounded

A terrible accident occurred on highway 6-at the Kesem intersection towards the north. A no.950 Egged bus, was crushed at the rear due to iron bars which flew off a truck.

Hatzalah paramedics, MDA and Hatzalah Gush Dan gave first aid treatment to 16 victims, including the soldier Ronny Chalabi (19) from Carmel who was killed, a severely injured 20 year old, and 14 others who had moderate to mild wounds.
The victims were evacuated by MDA teams to the Beilinson and Hasharon hospitals in Petach Tikva and Meir hospital in Kfar Saba.

The bus driver and truck driver who were involved in the accident were held for questioning at the traffic examiner department of the Sharon region.

An initial investigation of the police found that the accident occurred when the bus began to park at the side of the road, probably due to a technical mishap of the engine. A truck coming from behind tried to stop in order not to hit the bus, and its carriage hit the rear on the left. Iron bars which were loaded on the truck were released and flew onto the bus and as a result passengers were hurt.

Following the accident and evacuation of the victims, whilst ZAKA volunteers and police were still at the scene, another accident on the counter path took place before their very eyes: Two trucks, one with a tow, collided after one of the drivers lost control of his steering wheel after looking at the hit bus on the opposite highway.

In this accident two people were hurt. One of them was trapped in the truck and was evacuated in moderate condition; the second driver was mildly injured.

Meir Zargirian, a paramedic at Hatzalah Gush Dan and MDA who treated the victims, recalled: "We received a call concerning a serious accident on highway 6 between a truck and a bus. We treated two 20 year old severely injured passengers who were trapped in the bus due to the accident. Unfortunately one was pronounced dead right away. The second was evacuated in severe condition and anesthetized to hospital. In addition we treated other victims who had moderate to mild injuries and were suffering from bruises and injuries. They too were evacuated by ambulance to the hospital.

Zevi Tapper, a Hatzalah paramedic said: "An Egged bus stopped at the side of the road due to a technical problem, a truck fully loaded with iron bars hit the bus from behind and some of the iron bars hit the passengers. Unfortunately a youngster was killed. We treated 15 other passengers who were wounded, including a youngster who was severely injured, and the rest of the passengers with moderate to mild injuries. The bus was damaged; the highway was closed to traffic due to the iron bars which were scattered on the highway.

Avigdor Stern a ZAKA Sharon volunteer, said: "This was a traffic accident between a bus and a fully loaded truck with iron bars, the bus was hit from behind and the passengers sitting at the left of the bus were injured. One person was killed, another was critically injured and a number of moderate and mild injuries who were evacuated to hospital. This is a very difficult event, clothing items and bags were scattered around and stained with blood, certainly a very difficult sight."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!