Israelis rescued from bus stranded by snow in central Europe

41 passengers, including children and pregnant women, escorted to safety Friday afternoon after 16-hour ordeal

By ToI Staff 15 March 2013, 2:49 pm

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Illustrative photo of a massive vehicular crash near Woelfersheim, Germany, caused by extreme weather conditions earlier this week. (photo credit: AP/DPA/Boris Roessler)

A bus full of Israeli tourists were stranded for some 16 hours on a highway between Hungary and Austria due to a severe snowstorm.

Rescue workers finally managed to approach the bus and transfer the passengers to safety on Friday afternoon.

Three of the 41 people on board fainted earlier in the ordeal, but they were all said to be in good health when they were escorted off the bus, Channel 2 reported. The passengers included children and pregnant women.

International divisions of ZAKA, a Jewish volunteer-based emergency response network, also attempted to reach the passengers. A ZAKA representative said that Hungarian forces were providing medical care to those in need.

“There are snow plows and we hope to get to them in the coming hours,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman told Channel 2 earlier Friday. “We know that the engine of the bus is still working, so they have heat, but they’re lacking in water and food and they’re hungry,” he said.