Funerals are held for victims of bus accident (JERUSALEM POST) By MELANIE LIDMAN, NIDA TUMA AND YAAKOV LAPPIN 02/19/12)
Source: http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=258383
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Victims of the bus accident in which five children and their teacher
were killed were buried over the weekend as police continued their
investigation.
At least 30 others were injured in the crash.
The accident took place on Thursday morning when an Israeli-Arab
driver smashed his truck into a Palestinian school bus north of
Jerusalem. The bus had set out from a Palestinian school in Anata,
northeast of the capital, for a day trip, carrying around 60 children.
In the last two days, many op-ed writers slammed the kindergarten
administration’s decision to take the children on a fun trip in the
rainy weather, and called upon Palestinian authorities to seriously
investigate the accident, as well as the bus’s safety condition.
Officials blamed poor weather conditions for the accident.
The driver of the truck remains at the Hadassah University Medical
Center on Mount Scopus in moderate to serious condition. Police are
waiting for his condition to improve to question him.
“We will create a detailed report on the accident after we complete
our investigation,” a Judea and Samaria Police spokeswoman said.
Teacher Ola Julani, 37, and children Marwa Amireh, Lamis Hamdan,
Abdallah Hindi, Milad Salama and Zaid Nemer were buried over the
weekend.
Nemer, although from Anata, was buried in the al-Arroub refugee camp
where his extended family lives.
Salah al-Dweik, five, who was thought dead, was found in Hadassah’s
Ein Kerem hospital Friday morning. According to Anata Mayor Ibrahim
al- Rifai, the pupil’s name was not in the hospital’s lists when his
parents searched for him, “But thank God, he survived and is still
receiving treatment in Hadassah,” he said.
There are no official figures on the number of wounded, since victims
are spread out at hospitals in both the Palestinian territories and
Israel. According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel,
there are at least 30 injured, including four who are in critical
condition. Most of the victims have serious burns or amputations.
Both of the bus driver’s legs were amputated, ACRI reported.
Rifai told The Jerusalem Post that some passengers may succumb to
their wounds, including two teachers, Sana’ Kurneh and Ra’eda
E’layan, and five-year- old Mira Juwailes, who are critically injured.
The wounded are being treated in the Hadassah University Medical
Centers on Mount Scopus and in Ein Kerem, Ichilov Hospital in Tel
Aviv, Schneider Children’s Medical Center for Israel in Petah Tikva,
and hospitals in Ramallah and Nablus.
Two central mourners’ tents were erected in Anata and the Shuafat
refugee camp, where many of the victims lived. (© 1995-2011, The
Jerusalem Post 02/19/12)
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