Bodies returned home after Chile tragedy

WASHINGTON, March 24 (JTA) — A two-week vacation of a lifetime ended in tragedy for a dozen American tourists on a B’nai Brith trip to South America. The 12 tourists were killed Wednesday when their bus fell 300 feet down a mountainside. Two additional American passengers, as well as the Chilean tour guide and driver, were injured. The group was part of a 64-person B’nai B’rith group on a 14-day Celebrity Cruise Lines jaunt around South America, and were returning to the ship after visiting Lauca National Park in Arica when their bus plunged off the highway. Initial reports said the bus swerved to avoid an oncoming truck, but Chilean officials suggested Thursday that the driver may have fallen asleep. Ten of the passengers lived in the Ponds, a retirement community in Monroe Township, N.J., and the other two were from Stamford, Conn. They ranged in age from 63 to 76. About a dozen family members of the deceased went to Chile to identify the bodies. The bodies were sent home to the United States on Friday in a silent motorcade in Chile escorted by police, a rabbi and the relatives. The victims from the Ponds were identified as Marvin Bier, 79; Shirley Bier, 76; Marian Diamond, 75; Maria Eggers, 71; Hans Eggers, 72; Carole Ruchelman, 63; Robert Rubin, 72; Barbara Rubin, 69; Frieda Kovar, 74; and Arthur Kovar, 67; all from Monroe Township. Linda Greenfield, 63, and Ira Greenfield, 67, were from Stamford, Conn. The two surviving Americans — Harold Ruchelman and Bernard Diamond, both 68 and from Monroe Township — were released from the hospital Friday to accompany the bodies of their wives back to the United States. Rabbi Leibel Miller of the Sacred Jewish Burial Society of Florida accompanied cruise line officials to Chile on Wednesday evening and assisted the victims and their families, said Lynn Martenstein, vice president for corporate communications of Celebrity Cruise Lines. The Millennium ship captain and cruise director met Wednesday with 50 other members of the B’nai B’rith group who had not gone on the fatal bus trip, then informed the rest of the ship’s passengers of the accident, Martenstein said. They met again with the group Thursday morning. B’nai B’rith group members were given the option of returning to the United States, but all decided to continue to the next port in Lima, Peru. The cruise is scheduled to return to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on April 2. The cruise line had a chartered plane standing by in Arica to return the victims to the United States and accommodate family members. Numerous Jewish organizations, including B’nai B’rith International, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, sent South American representatives to the scene to help the families and survivors. “We are shocked, stunned and saddened by this news,” said Joel Kaplan, president of B’nai B’rith International. The B’nai B’rith members had booked the Lauca excursion separately, and the tour was not affiliated with the cruise line, Martenstein said. The tour was not licensed, according to Chilean officials. “At this moment, all of us share the pain and anguish of this terrible event,” said Dan Hanrahan, president of Celebrity Cruises. “We are devastated.” An administrator at The Ponds said the South American trip had been organized independently from The Ponds but was geared toward its residents. “They were very well known, very well liked and very active,” Eileen Marcus, community manager of The Ponds, said of the victims. “People are just in shock. It’s a very close-knit community and this is affecting all of them.” Grief counselors from Jewish Family Services were at The Ponds on Thursday. Several synagogues in New Jersey were planning memorials for the victims. The Chabad Jewish Center in Monroe held a memorial service Thursday evening. “What can you say?” Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky said. “There are no words for a day like today.”