10 injured, one of them seriously, after bus crashes into store in Ramat Gan

Ten people were wounded, one of them seriously, after a bus crashed into a kiosk at a busy intersection in central Israel’s Ramat Gan on Friday, medics said.

Police said they detained the bus driver for questioning. They reportedly think the incident at the meeting of the Bialik and Krinitsi streets was most likely the result of a traffic accident.

Eight people suffered light wounds in the crash, while a woman of about 60 was in moderate condition, and another woman of about 25 was in serious condition with injuries to her extremities after being trapped underneath the bus, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.

All 10 were taken to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, MDA said.

Ynet reported that the Shin Bet was involved in the investigation of the crash, but the news site also quoted Police Commander Elad Klein, head of the police’s Tel Aviv-area Dan region, as saying at the scene of the crash that “there’s a very high likelihood this was a traffic accident, from all we’ve seen.”

According to Ynet, the driver said he lost control of the bus after accidentally pressing the gas pedal instead of the brakes.

Netanel Michalshvili, son of the kiosk owner whose store was hit, told the Ynet news site that the scene was shocking.

“I was at the cash register, organizing some things, when suddenly I heard a loud boom,” he recalled. “I saw the cans, bottles, everything fly out of the fridge… Everything flew on the floors —  the chairs, seats that were outside — everything was broken; the store’s sign, the lighting.”

Yael, an eyewitness, was quoted by the news site as saying that “everything happened within seconds.”

“There was major confusion,” she said. “I couldn’t understand at first if it was an accident or a terror attack.”