4 killed, 14 injured as bus plows into bus stop near Ben Gurion Airport

Four people were killed Sunday and 14 were injured in a bus crash on Route 40 close to Ben Gurion International Airport.

Three women and one man died in the crash, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said in a statement. One of the women was in her 30s, one in her 50s, and one in her 60s. The man was around 70-years-old.

The rescue operation took some four hours and involved firefighters and paramedics.

The bodies of the deceased were transferred to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for identification.

Two women, aged 67 and 19, were left in serious condition, the MDA said.

Twelve other people were lightly injured and transferred to area hospitals.

The bus hit a bus stop at the side of the road at Bedek Junction. The impact caused massive damage to the vehicle, which was partially crushed by the bus stop’s concrete roof.

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After the injured were taken to local hospitals, emergency services struggled to remove the trapped remains of those who were killed.

The injured passengers were taken to Sheba Medical Center, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center and the Rabin Medical Center.

An initial investigation found that the bus swerved for an unknown reason and hit the bus stop. An MDA medic said that the driver was trapped in his seat, but was conscious when emergency services arrived at the scene.

Police were investigating the driver, who suffered moderate injuries in the crash. A senior police officer told Channel 12 that investigators suspected that the driver had been distracted and had confiscated his phone.

Rout 40 was closed to traffic due to the accident.

The Egged bus company said in a statement that the bus was a No. 947 that left Jerusalem for Haifa at 6 p.m.

“The bus swerved from its path for unclear reasons and slammed into a concrete bus stop,” Egged said. “The cause of the accident, the swerving and the collision with the structure will be checked by police traffic inspectors after the evacuation of injured people from this severe and tragic accident is completed.”

Earlier Sunday, two Palestinian workers were killed when the minibus they were traveling in hit a bus near Ramat Gan, outside Tel Aviv. The driver of the minibus was seriously injured in the accident, which police suspect was caused by speeding and reckless driving.

The deaths brought to 345 the number of people killed in traffic accidents during 2019, according to figures from the National Road Safety Authority. Last year, 316 people were killed on the country’s roads.