(VIDEOS AND PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
Tragedy struck Beit Shemesh on Thursday morning, when a 6-year-old boy and his father were struck by an Egged bus. Tragically, the boy was R”L pronounced dead on the scene.
Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah responded to the calls just before 8:30AM for struck pedestrians on Nachal Kishon Blvd. in Beit Shemesh.
Arriving emergency personnel found the child pinned under the bus.
Director of United Hatzalah Moshe Teitelbaum was among the first responders at the scene: “This was a particularly difficult scene in which a father and his son, pedestrians, were hit by a bus. Unfortunately, paramedics at the scene were forced to pronounce the child dead due to his massive injuries. United Hatzalah volunteers were able to treat the father of the child who was moderately injured.”
MDA reports that the father, in his 30s, was transported to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.
Police traffic investigators arrived on the scene to begin collecting evidence to piece together the fatal incident, but it appears that he child had apparently been crossing the street with his father.
The child was identified as Yehuda Applebaum. The Levaya was held on Thursday afternoon.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: תיעוד מבצעי מד”א)
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5 Responses
That street looks very narrow. Buses should not be travelling there. That street was made for cars and taxis.
To Avraham – do you live there? I do. It is plenty wide enough for buses to go round AND there is a pull in for buses at the bus stop. The problem is, it is a massive junction with multiple crosswalks but the buses belt down the side road, make a right & don’t bother to see if anyone is on the crosswalk. The father was walking his 2 sons to school, they were on the crosswalk but the bus driver wasn’t watching. The other child managed to get out of the way.
FYI this horrific tragedy was witnessed by many of his schoolfriends, as well as scores of other kids, adults, pedestrians, bus passengers, shoppers etc. I am very afraid of crossing this street because drivers don’t care. I was almost hit by a speeding car further up the road as I was on the crosswalk. Maybe this tragedy will effect change in traffic safety, I don’t know.
That’s the main road exiting Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph. There’s no alternate/wider road except for all the way on the other end of town.
bus drivers drive like lunatics, taking money as they drive, racing around curves
If you look at the video, the driver had come to a complete stop. He wasn’t speeding. It’s not clear if they were standing in the street after crossing and got caught in the blind spot.