Bus bombing victim describes attack

Michael Cheshin was on his way to a Krav Maga lesson when Jerusalem’s number 12 bus he was on exploded yesterday.

“I only saw the noise and the fire,” he says with a heavy Russian accent in his hospital bed.

Cheshin’s right hand was completely covered in bandages, the result of his cellular phone battery exploding in the attack. He also had pieces of metal in his leg that were removed in surgery and ruptured eardrums.

Dr. Ofer Merrin, the head of Shaare Zedek’s Trauma Center, discussed the critically injured person from the attack, who has yet to be identified.

“He has combined injuries: Severe burns, unfortunately, from the fire and severe injuries to his limbs from the explosion. [The injuries] are to both his upper and lower extremities,” Merrin says.

“There’s no ID yet. They are working on that a lot, and there are a number of thoughts about his identity. But we’re just dealing with his medical condition,” he adds.

The other people injured also had some combination of burns and explosion-related injuries, he says.

— Judah Ari Gross