An Egged driver lost control of his bus on Thursday night, ramming into a bus stop on Shamgar Street near the entrance to Jerusalem in the Romema neighborhood, killing at least three people and injuring several others.
Jerusalem Police chief Doron Turgeman said that the ramming was an “unfortunate accident” and was not a terrorist attack. Reports claimed that the bus driver said after the accident that he had experienced problems with the brakes on the bus.
The victims of the accident were 30-year-old Shoshana Glostein and her two daughters, twp-year-old Chana and seven- year-old Chaya. Some people were trapped under the bus and several were evacuated to nearby hospitals in serious condition.
Of the 12 people evacuated to the Hadassah-University Medical Center, eight were released home, the hospital updated on Friday morning, adding that two children, aged four and nine, are still receiving treatment in the Ein Kerem campus, while two others are being treated at Mount Scopus.
Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem updated earlier on Friday that the condition of a 20-year-old woman is still very serious, while a 40-year-old woman and her two children are in moderate condition and that a child was released home.
Israel Police, firefighters and paramedics rushed to the scene. The bus stop, near a shopping area, was packed with people waiting for different buses.
“This is the second such accident in the neighborhood this week.”
United Hatzalah Spokesperson Raphael Poch
Second bus crash in Jerusalem in a week
The incident came just two days after another Egged bus swerved into pedestrians and crashed into a construction site on Jerusalem’s nearby Yirmiyahu Street, killing a 70-year-old man and injuring another pedestrian.
“This is the second such accident in the neighborhood this week,” said United Hatzalah Spokesperson Raphael Poch. “In this case, a bus crashed into a storefront. Due to the nature of the incident the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit has been dispatched and is active at the scene providing emotional and psychological stabilization to witnesses.”
Bus drivers overworked?
The Bus Drivers’ Union said that the accident came as bus drivers were overworked and the country was short thousands of drivers needed to fill existing routes.
“The bus drivers are collapsing and most of them drive long hours every day due to a shortage of over 5,000 drivers. The buses have become a ticking time bomb due to the worsening shortage. It is time for the heads of the Transportation Ministry to take this seriously. The drivers and passengers must not give up their lives,” the union said.